We encourage the Parlour community to take the Wellbeing of Architects Survey 1. Tell the research team about your experiences of work-related wellbeing in architecture and support the development of new tools and resources.

  • Do you think there are issues with work-related wellbeing in architecture?
  • If so, what are they?  What contributes to them?
  • What could be done to improve wellbeing for all?
Parlour is pleased to be involved in the research-based advocacy project Wellbeing of Architects: culture, identity + practice. The project’s first survey is aimed at practitioners, and will be followed by a subsequent survey of students later in the year.These surveys will generate the most reliable and comprehensive dataset ever collected about wellbeing in the profession. They will provide a firm evidence base, from which we can develop resources, toolkits and practical advice – to help architectural practices, institutions and organisations to better support their people and create positive workplace cultures.Your views are important and the research team deeply appreciates your contribution to improving cultures of wellbeing in the profession.The survey will take about 20 minutes – so grab a cup of tea and settle in to contribute to better understanding and greater wellbeing in architecture!
Survey closes Tuesday 10 August. 

Interested to know more?

Who is this survey for?
The survey is for anyone who works in the Australian architecture profession broadly defined, including:
  • Registered architects
  • People with an architectural education who are not registered but are working in architectural practice
  • People not formally educated in architecture working in support roles in architectural practice
  • People with an architectural education working in aligned professions and fields
  • People working in architectural practice who are also studying architecture (see note below)
  • Architectural practitioners who are also teaching architecture (see note below)
  • Possibly others! If you consider yourself to work in architecture in Australia, please proceed
What about students?
This survey is not intended for people who are mainly or solely studying architecture – because you will have your own, separate survey, coming soon!However if you are both studying and working in architectural practice you can choose which survey you respond to (ie this practitioner survey or the following student survey) – we ask that you please complete only one.
What about academics?
If you are primarily working in architectural practice, but also teaching architecture in some capacity, we encourage you to complete the survey, from your practitioner perspective.However if your main or sole employment is in university teaching and/or research in architecture, we think that our planned focus groups will be the best way to capture your experiences.This will enable us to address your own work life, the wellbeing of your students, teaching methods in architecture and how they might be contributing to wellbeing, etc. Please stand by for information about focus groups to be held later in 2021.
How do we define ‘wellbeing’?
In this survey we define wellbeing broadly, encompassing subjective factors contributing to a person’s perception of a healthy, fulfilling, satisfying, and meaningful life.The Victorian government describes wellbeing as: ‘not just the absence of disease or illness [rather] a complex combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health factors… In short, wellbeing could be described as how you feel about yourself and your life.’Mental health is a significant component of wellbeing – and we invite contributors to reflect on this in the survey. However our project is not a clinical one, hence we define wellbeing subjectively, taking in the individual’s perception of their whole self in relation to their work.
What about ‘work-related wellbeing’?
In this study we are particularly interested in the ways in which work (and study) affect wellbeing – how individuals feel about themselves and their work, and which aspects of architectural work, education, and culture might have effects on wellbeing.
Want more methodological detail?
For the boffins amongst us, a full discussion of our aims, methods, and theoretical framework can be downloaded here.
The research is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and is being undertaken by Professor Naomi Stead, Professor Julie Wolfram Cox, Associate Professor Maryam Gusheh and Associate Professor Brian Cooper, at Monash University, and Dr Kirsten Orr, Registrar of the NSW Architects Registration Board. This research project has been approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (Project ID: 27252).