Environment submissions database

In March 2020 the university activated its Major Incidence Team (MIT) to coordinate its response to Covid-19; meeting 1-3 times per week since then. The PVC Research represents RKE on MIT and in turn chairs the Research sub-group comprising faculty ADRKE, the Directors of the RBDO and head of the Graduate Office (PGR students). Initially, all research activities except those directly contributing to Covid-19 research were paused and where possible resumed via working from home (WFH). The university invested in virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom to facilitate WFH. Those impacted most at this stage included researchers requiring access to specialist facilities on campus. A Covid H&S group was quickly established, which introduced Covid-secure measures to enable return to labs and specialist spaces. This programme was piloted in Biological Sciences in May and was rolled out to other STEM disciplines in summer 2020. Measures for individual risk assessments, social distancing, PPE and shift patterns of work remain in force (March 2021). All fieldwork and work with human participants was paused. A group was established to oversee studies recommencing in a phased manner according to type of activity and geographical location. Whilst some activity was restarted in Autumn 2020, this was quickly paused again with the second national lockdown - in March 2021 MIT again approved the phased restarting of activities. The university ethics committee responded by introducing a process for rapid re-approval of projects to amend data collection methodologies, for example. In the later stages of 2020 it became apparent that some of those impacted most were humanities researchers who lacked access to collections, libraries and museums. In addition to distributing the UKRI Covid-19 grant fund (£631,000) to support eligible grants, we have also used additional Covid-19 QR and mainstream QR funds to provide bridging, extensions and contract renewal for a number of Research Fellowships. We provide regular communication for researchers/PGRs through PVCR updates in addition to university and faculty-level Communications. The university introduced a number of measures to support all staff and PGR WFH and in well-being initiatives. We sought especially to look after our PGR students. We introduced a Covid-log so they could record the unique way that pandemic had impacted them. We supported students to redesign research programmes to enable as many as possible to complete with minimal delay. We also agreed a package of financial support measures e.g. access to financial aid for immediate needs and a commitment to fund, where needed, 3 month extensions in the final year of study for those in receipt of university scholarships. All PGRs were able to discuss their needs/concerns at annual monitoring interviews, summer 2020. Senior staff meet with PGR representatives to ensure that planned measures are working and appropriate; feedback has been overwhelmingly positive of the university response. These financial commitments will impact on our ability to take forward new strategy in the short term and thus the first two years focus on a recovery period.