That seems like the implication. Obviously they have to collect all that information for an applicant, and they explicitly state "Managing our career opportunities" as a potential use of the collected data.
Peer review is the heart and soul of scientific research. I do think there is room to speed up collaboration, but we should not compromise the rigidity of the scientific method, especially with as many unknowns as with the current coronavirus, establishing definite knowns is very valuable.
It could be, but considering the developers made the conscious decision to use a static seed and show that seed to the player they are probably okay with that.