This update provides further information, following the Vice-Chancellor’s update.
The Government advice is to continue to work from home where possible to minimise the spread of the virus, there is no expectation that our research facilities must close completely.
Therefore, where you cannot conduct your research from home, it is permitted to access on-campus facilities, but only for that specific purpose, and only if strictly necessary. Coming onto campus to access offices or study spaces beyond any essential Library use is not permitted. The use of public transport should be avoided, but if you do need to travel by bus/tube etc, you should adhere strictly to the prevailing rules.
Whilst labs remain open, they must operate under strict COVID-safe conditions, i.e., social distancing, rotas etc. as we did last Summer, and in line with the university and government guidance. In particular, all risk assessments should be revisited, and the 2-metre social distance reinforced. Risks assessments pertaining to- or impacted by- any new members to a research group must be revised. These new risk assessments must be signed off at Faculty level before you access the facilities on campus.
Unfortunately, our social responsibility requires that subject based research must be suspended, and we will review this in February (or sooner if Government advice changes). Similarly, travel from or within the UK is also strongly discouraged. Travel to the UK should follow the Government advice on pre-travel testing and isolation on arrival.
For those researchers that must attend campus, we strongly encourage regular Covid testing, and this may be a requirement of the revised lab-access risk assessment. You can find details of the Covid tests available on each of our campuses on our website.
We appreciate this will be unwelcome news for our PGR community, and again we recommend that you discuss any issues with your supervisory team. Extensions can be sought through the usual channels, as communicated just prior to Christmas. If you wish to submit an extension, please communicate to the Faculty Research offices urgently as the deadlines are imminent.
We know this is a challenging time, and we recognise that individual circumstances will differ. Please remember that the university is here to support you and our support services are available for you to use. You can find the details of the Student Wellbeing Service and the Students’ Union Advice Service on our website.
