Last month we invited you to share your experiences as a microbiologist and to tell us what prevents you from doing your job as well as you’d like.

We received an overwhelming response and we thank all of you who took part in identifying the barriers that you face every day. Your feedback is extremely important to us and will help us better understand where change is needed to break down the barriers to microbiology.

We are still going through your responses, but we thought we would give you a brief snapshot of the initial findings from the survey:

• > 2700 of you took part in the survey worldwide from more than 100 countries
• 65% of respondents said that the most significant barrier to their work was the difficulty in sourcing research funding and grants
• 30% of respondents said that the most significant barrier to their work was the lack of access to research facilities and equipment

Thank you again for making your voice heard. Your opinion is valuable to us and we hope you continue to get involved with FEMS in making microbiology count.