Confidential Peer Review

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CeMM IT & Scientific Computing Audit 2026 · Commissioned by the CeMM Directors

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Why are we running this survey?

CeMM Directors (Anita Ender and Maria Rescigno) commissioned a friendly peer review of CeMM's IT infrastructure, HPC cluster, scientific computing, and data workflows. The goal is to understand what works well, what creates frustration in your daily work, and where additional resources or improvements are needed for research groups, facilities, and future IT planning at CeMM.

Survey A (Research Groups, Facilities & Admin): Anonymous Participation

Survey A is designed so that you can give honest, constructive feedback without submitting your name or email:

• No names or email addresses: We do not ask for, collect, or store your name or contact information. Please avoid including personally identifying details in free-text comments.
• Zero network tracking: We do not log or store your IP address, browser fingerprint, or device identifiers.
• No tracking tokens: The link for Survey A is generic and identical for everyone.
• Day-level timestamps only: Submissions only record the date (e.g. 2026-09-21), not the time of day, so responses cannot be correlated with email send times or network access logs.
• Optional browser draft cookie: If you save a draft or navigate between sections, an anonymous random draft ID is stored in a temporary 30-day browser cookie (audit_survey_a_draft). It contains no personal details, and is automatically erased upon final submission or when you click “Clear draft & start over”.
• Aggregate reporting (<5 rule): All feedback is presented in combined charts and summaries. If any group (such as role or lab tenure) has fewer than 5 respondents, it is merged with other groups so that no individual can be deduced.
• Redaction of free text: Any specific names, projects, or identifying details in open comments are redacted before analysis.

Surveys B & C (Facilities & IT Team): Confidential & Constructive

Surveys B (Core Facility Leads & Lab IT Contacts) and C (IT and HPC Team) cover specialized equipment, lab computers, software, and systems:

• Named for context: These links are personalized so we can attribute instrument inventories and infrastructure facts to the correct facility or area during our on-site discussions.
• Strict "No-Blame" culture: Individual answers are treated in complete confidence by the reviewer and will never be quoted with your name or used for personal evaluation in any report.
• Save and resume: You can save your progress as a draft at any point and return to finish it later.

Data Retention & Deletion

Survey data is stored in an isolated, secure database. All individual survey responses, saved drafts, and access tokens will be deleted after the audit is completed.