useR! 2025 Report
This report summarizes attendee demographics and feedback from the 2025 useR! conference, held August 8–10 in Durham, North Carolina.
Overview
182 in-person/hybrid participants and 1 virtual participants responded to the survey.
Demographics of Participants
Age
(Q: How old are you?)
| Age | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| NA | 6 | 3 |
| < 25 | 9 | 5 |
| 25 - 34 | 61 | 33 |
| 35 - 44 | 65 | 36 |
| 45 - 54 | 23 | 13 |
| 55 - 64 | 13 | 7 |
| > 64 | 6 | 3 |
Country of origin
(Q: What is your country of origin?)
Counts < 6 are replaced with 1.5 to preserve anonymity, with the NA count adjusted to maintain the total count.
| Origin | iso3c | n |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | ARG | 1.5 |
| Australia | AUS | 1.5 |
| Austria | AUT | 1.5 |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | BIH | 1.5 |
| Canada | CAN | 1.5 |
| China | CHN | 1.5 |
| Colombia | COL | 1.5 |
| Costa Rica | CRI | 1.5 |
| Czechia | CZE | 1.5 |
| France | FRA | 1.5 |
| Germany | DEU | 6.0 |
| Hungary | HUN | 1.5 |
| India | IND | 6.0 |
| Indonesia | IDN | 1.5 |
| Ireland | IRL | 1.5 |
| Kenya | KEN | 1.5 |
| Mexico | MEX | 1.5 |
| Nepal | NPL | 1.5 |
| Netherlands | NLD | 1.5 |
| Pakistan | PAK | 1.5 |
| Singapore | SGP | 1.5 |
| South Korea | KOR | 1.5 |
| Spain | ESP | 1.5 |
| Sri Lanka | LKA | 1.5 |
| Sweden | SWE | 1.5 |
| Switzerland | CHE | 1.5 |
| United Kingdom | GBR | 1.5 |
| United States | USA | 124.0 |
| Uruguay | URY | 1.5 |
| Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | VEN | 1.5 |
| Viet Nam | VNM | 1.5 |
| NA | NA | 5.0 |
| Continent of origin | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 1.5 | 1 |
| Asia | 18.0 | 7 |
| Europe | 22.5 | 9 |
| North America | 128.5 | 53 |
| Oceania | 1.5 | 1 |
| South America | 6.0 | 2 |
| NA | 5.0 | 2 |
Country of residence
(Q: In what country do you currently reside?)
Counts < 5 are replaced with 1.5 to preserve anonymity, with the NA count adjusted to maintain the total count.
| Residence | iso3c | n |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | ARG | 1.5 |
| Australia | AUS | 1.5 |
| Austria | AUT | 1.5 |
| Canada | CAN | 1.5 |
| Costa Rica | CRI | 1.5 |
| Czechia | CZE | 1.5 |
| Germany | DEU | 6.0 |
| Hungary | HUN | 1.5 |
| Ireland | IRL | 1.5 |
| Mexico | MEX | 1.5 |
| Singapore | SGP | 1.5 |
| Switzerland | CHE | 1.5 |
| United Kingdom | GBR | 1.5 |
| United States | USA | 155.0 |
| NA | NA | 4.0 |
| Continent of residence | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 1.5 | 1 |
| Europe | 15.0 | 6 |
| North America | 159.5 | 66 |
| Oceania | 1.5 | 1 |
| South America | 1.5 | 1 |
| NA | 4.0 | 2 |
Racial/ethnic identity
(Q: What racial/ethnic group(s) do you identify with?)
Respondents could select multiple options.
| Ethnicity | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| NA | 7 | 4 |
| Asian or Pacific Islander | 35 | 19 |
| Black/African/Caribbean | 7 | 4 |
| Hispanic/Latinx | 11 | 6 |
| Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups | 6 | 3 |
| White | 121 | 64 |
| Other Ethnicity | 2 | 1 |
Gender
(Q: What is your gender?)
| barplot_gender | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| NA | 4 | 2 |
| Gender Diverse, Woman | 73 | 40 |
| Man | 106 | 58 |
Disability
(Q: Do you have any disabilities or impairments that affect the way you work/study or place special requirements on your working/learning environment?)
8% of respondents (n = 14) declared a disability or impairment that affects the way they work or study.
(Q: What kind of disability do you have?)
The following disabilities were represented among useR! 2025 participants:
- A vision impairment
- A hearing impairment
- A mobility impairment
- A learning disability
- A mental health disorder
- Other disability
Participants specified the following under “Other disability”: Chronic medical condition, Chronic migraines, ADHD .
LGBTQIA+ identity
(Q: Do you identify as LGBTQIA+?)
7% of respondents (n = 13) identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or another sexual or gender minority.
Education & Life situation
Education level
(Q: What is the highest level of education you have completed?)
| Education | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Undergrad or lower | 31 | 17 |
| Professional | 6 | 3 |
| Master | 71 | 39 |
| Doctorate | 75 | 41 |
(Q: Are you currently a student?)
23% of respondents (n = 42) declared they were currently students, 7% (n = 3) of these students were part-time.
Employment status
(Q: What is your current employment status?)
| Employment | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| NA | 1 | 0 |
| Academia | 82 | 40 |
| Government/Non-profit | 31 | 15 |
| Industry | 61 | 30 |
| Non-salaried student | 7 | 3 |
| Self-employed | 16 | 8 |
| Unemployed/Retired | 7 | 3 |
(Q: If in paid employment, are you:)
93% of respondents (n = 171) declared they had paid employment, 11% (n = 18) of these respondents only had part-time paid work.
Caregiving status
(Q: Do you have any children or adults that depend on you for day-to-day care?)
29% of respondents (n = 53) have children or adults that depend on them for day-to-day care.
Interest in R
R Users
(Q: What is your interest in useR!?)
97% of respondents (n = 177) said that they use R.
Length of experience
(Q: How long have you been using R for?)
| Experience | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| < 6 months | 6 | 3 |
| 6-12 months | 5 | 3 |
| 1-2 years | 7 | 4 |
| 2-5 years | 32 | 18 |
| 5-10 years | 52 | 30 |
| > 10 years | 74 | 42 |
Non R Users
3% of respondents (n = 5) said that they are interested in starting to use R.
Involvement in useR!
(Q: Was this your first useR!?)
73% (n = 134) said they were attending useR! for the first time
Sessions attended
(Q: What type of sessions did you attend?)
| Attendance | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Regular talks (R) | 179 | 99 |
| Keynotes (K) | 172 | 95 |
| Tutorials (T) | 146 | 81 |
| Posters (P) | 130 | 72 |
| Social events (S) | 121 | 67 |
| Lightning talks (L) | 85 | 47 |
| Sessions | n |
|---|---|
| K-R-L-P-T-S | 44 |
| K-R-P-T-S | 38 |
| K-R-L-P-T | 11 |
| K-R-P-T | 11 |
| K-R-P-S | 10 |
| K-R-T | 10 |
| K-R-T-S | 9 |
| K-R-L-T | 7 |
| K-R-L-T-S | 6 |
| K-R-L-P-S | 5 |
| K-R-S | 5 |
| K-R-P | 4 |
| K-R | 3 |
| K-R-L | 3 |
| K-R-L-P | 3 |
| R-T | 3 |
| None | 2 |
| R-L-P-T | 2 |
| R-L-T | 2 |
| K-P-S | 1 |
| K-R-L-S | 1 |
| K-T | 1 |
| R-L-P-T-S | 1 |
| R-T-S | 1 |
Financial support
(Q: Were you offered financial support to attend the in-person conference?
Counts < 5 are replaced with 2.5 to preserve anonymity, with the NA count adjusted to maintain the total count.
| support | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| No, not offered | 2.5 | 1 |
| No, did not apply | 131.0 | 72 |
| No, unaware of scholarships | 35.0 | 19 |
| Yes, registration | 7.0 | 4 |
| Yes, registration + travel | 2.5 | 1 |
| NA | 5.0 | 3 |
Satisfaction with useR!
Q: How satisfied were you with the following aspects of the useR! program?
Events
| Session Type | Score | n | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keynotes | 3 | 17 | 10 |
| Keynotes | 4 | 71 | 43 |
| Keynotes | 5 | 78 | 47 |
| Lightning talks | 3 | 10 | 12 |
| Lightning talks | 4 | 44 | 52 |
| Lightning talks | 5 | 30 | 36 |
| Posters | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Posters | 2 | 17 | 14 |
| Posters | 3 | 43 | 34 |
| Posters | 4 | 39 | 31 |
| Posters | 5 | 25 | 20 |
| Regular talks | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Regular talks | 3 | 18 | 11 |
| Regular talks | 4 | 88 | 52 |
| Regular talks | 5 | 63 | 37 |
| Social Events | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Social Events | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Social Events | 3 | 25 | 21 |
| Social Events | 4 | 35 | 29 |
| Social Events | 5 | 54 | 45 |
| Tutorials | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Tutorials | 3 | 28 | 20 |
| Tutorials | 4 | 50 | 36 |
| Tutorials | 5 | 58 | 42 |
Accessibility practices
(Q: How would you rate the accessibility practices this year?)
| Accessibility Type | Score | n | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accessibility of the materials | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Accessibility of the materials | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| Accessibility of the materials | 4 | 27 | 31 |
| Accessibility of the materials | 5 | 53 | 61 |
| Availability of the materials | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Availability of the materials | 3 | 12 | 10 |
| Availability of the materials | 4 | 32 | 27 |
| Availability of the materials | 5 | 71 | 61 |
| Caption quality | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Caption quality | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Caption quality | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Caption quality | 4 | 11 | 22 |
| Caption quality | 5 | 33 | 65 |
| Information + schedule platform | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Information + schedule platform | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Information + schedule platform | 3 | 10 | 7 |
| Information + schedule platform | 4 | 39 | 29 |
| Information + schedule platform | 5 | 79 | 59 |
General organization
(Q: How satisfied were you with the following aspects of the useR! organization?)
| Organization Type | Score | n | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| In person venue | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| In person venue | 3 | 26 | 15 |
| In person venue | 4 | 60 | 35 |
| In person venue | 5 | 78 | 46 |
| Registration process | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Registration process | 3 | 20 | 12 |
| Registration process | 4 | 49 | 29 |
| Registration process | 5 | 98 | 57 |
| Social media | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Social media | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Social media | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Social media | 4 | 37 | 40 |
| Social media | 5 | 43 | 46 |
| Virtual event setup | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Virtual event setup | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Virtual event setup | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Virtual event setup | 4 | 16 | 37 |
| Virtual event setup | 5 | 22 | 51 |
| Website | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Website | 3 | 13 | 8 |
| Website | 4 | 74 | 44 |
| Website | 5 | 78 | 46 |
Would you attend a future useR!?
(Q: Will you attend a future useR!?)
Online
(Q: Would you attend a future online useR! conference?)
| futureOnline | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| NA | 98 | 54 |
| Maybe | 85 | 46 |
In-person
(Q: Would you attend a future in-person useR! conference?)
Counts < 5 are replaced with 2.5 to preserve anonymity, with the NA count adjusted to maintain the total count.
| futureInPerson | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Maybe, location-dependent | 84 | 46 |
| Maybe, location-independent | 22 | 12 |
| NA | 77 | 42 |
General comments
Q: Do you have other comments on the useR! conference series?
Feedback from non-participants
3 people responded to the survey to give feedback as a potential participant that did not attend the conference.
Interest in useR! conference
Non-participant respondents were interested in useR! due to their interest in the following areas:
| Area of Interest | n |
|---|---|
| R (as potential user) | 1 |
| R (as current user) | 2 |
Reasons for not participating
(Q: Did you participate in useR! 2025?) (Q: (Conditional on 17) Why did you not participate?)
| Reason | n |
|---|---|
| I could not afford the travel expenses for the in person event | 2 |
| I did not have the time | 1 |
| I could not afford the registration fee for the in person event | 0 |
| I did not have sufficient internet access for the virtual event | 0 |
| My visa application was denied for the in person event | 0 |
| The content was not interesting | 0 |
| The in person or virtual event was not accessible for me | 0 |
| NA | 0 |