Our Responsibility
Cactus Foundation is a global nonprofit initiative aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and it aims to provide researchers with the opportunities and support they need to create a global impact through their research. We work with committees, institutions, and organizations to support research and researchers in order to build a more equal, sustainable society for all. Our mission is to make the world a better place by promoting research in science, technology, and the humanities and by working with the global academic and publishing community. We strongly believe that people are the future. The future of innovation starts from one person—one researcher—who has an idea, a philosophy, a vision, and strong evidence, which he/she can use to take action, not for himself/herself but to create an impact for everyone in the world. As an extension of CACTUS's corporate identity and purpose and as part of our corporate responsibility, we want to help people build the global scientific and academic community and create a strong driving force that will benefit the future of mankind.
Our Focus Areas
People
Nurturing the technical skills and experience of employees, inspired researchers, and our partners.
Profit
Utilizing the profits from our businesses to provide support and funds for research.
Product
Providing products and services free of cost to support activities and projects that help solve pressing problems.
#PositiveResearchCulture
Joy and Stress Triggers
A global survey on mental health among researchers
The first and flagship project we undertook through the Cactus Foundation was a global survey on mental health among researchers. Aligned with multiple UN SDGs such as good health and wellbeing, reduced inequalities, and decent work and economic growth, the survey was designed to shed light on what aspects of their work environment bring researchers joy, what aspects cause stress, and what research institutions can do to create a more positive and nurturing environment for researchers. Released on World Mental Health Day 2019, the survey ran for 9 months and gathered responses from over 13000 researchers across over 160 countries, making it the largest and most diverse global survey on mental health in academia. The survey report will be released on World Mental Health Day 2020, i.e., October 10. We believe that insights from this survey could help start a strong and important global conversation and prompt universities and research institutions to take tangible steps to help researchers thrive. Click here to know more about the survey.
A global initiative against bullying in academia
The CACTUS Mental Health Survey revealed disturbingly high incidences of bullying in academia and academic institutions. This also stood out as a major factor that negatively affected researchers' mental health and wellbeing. To bring more attention to this prevailing issue in academia and address it, we launched the THINK Academia Initiative. The primary goals of this initiative are to spread more awareness of how common bullying in academia is, to help people recognize the various forms of bullying in academia, and to urge people to be more aware so that we can work toward fostering a safe academic environment.