EU citizens have been asked to share their experiences of how Brexit has changed their plans in the UK and how their local, national and European identities have been affected by it.

The online survey is part of a research project called Brexit: EU citizens’ collective action and the emergence of a European diaspora, which is being conducted by Professor Tanja Bueltmann and Dr Alexandra Bulat at Strathclyde University.

A grassroots organisation of EU citizens living in the UK, the3million, is collaborating on the initiative to try to reach as many Europeans as possible.

The research is also trying to establish the extent to which EU citizens feel represented in UK politics and society and what action they have taken in campaigning for their rights.

Bueltmann said it was part of a project on the experiences of EU citizens post-Brexit which she leads at the university, with Bulat as a research associate. It was launched yesterday and will run for a month. Reports last month suggested that almost five million EU citizens had now registered to stay in the UK and more were expected to come in before the EU Settlement Scheme ends on June 30.

Around 4.49 million applications have been made for first timers and those who changed from temporary pre-settled status to full settled status.

However, staying here is also expensive – it would cost a family of four up to £5000 to become British citizens – and for the same price, a report by Tory MP Alberto Costa found that people could become citizens of Australia, Canada, France or the US.

His report also said children born in the UK should be allowed to be British by birth automatically – a policy that was in place before Britain joined the EEC, the precursor to the EU – a move that would have the backing of some 61% of the public.

Bueltmann said they hoped the UK and devolved governments and the Home Office would be interested in the findings. She told The National: “The survey covers a broad range of topics from questions to do with the status of EU citizens to much wider questions about their identity and sense of belonging post-Brexit, but also questions about how EU citizens feel represented in the UK now (or not). We really are in uncharted waters in this new post-Brexit world now, so there is an important moment for reflection and understanding issues that continue to weigh on the minds of EU citizens.

“They are part of communities all around the UK and we hope the research we are conducting now can help shape debates and policymaking moving forward by providing vital new data, but also opportunities for EU citizens to share their experiences. That is also why we hope to attract as diverse a range of respondents to the survey as possible so that we have a good dataset for analysis from mid-March.”

The survey can be found here.