Environment submissions database

COVID-19 has affected the University’s research in multiple ways. The closure of arts and culture venues disrupted outputs and impact. For instance, in the REF2 outputs by Bottle and by Cunningham and Hunt, work has been exhibited less extensively at fewer venues than planned. In impact, 3 of 4 case studies have experienced disruption to their final planned impacts (see REF3 COVID-19 statements). In the research Environment, UCA’s galleries and the Crafts Study Centre have lost a large part of the planned programme from March 2020 onwards, and research events have been cancelled or postponed, for instance the Surrealism in England and Crafts in Performance conferences scheduled for summer 2020. The need to deliver online teaching and repeatedly reformulate assessment has had a further detrimental effect, impeding staff researchers’ ability to carry out their research. Many staff have experienced increased caring responsibilities and the impact of home schooling. Of the staff members awarded internal research funding for the year to 31st July 2020, 11 were unable to spend the funds or complete the project due to such disruptions or the closure of venues. Support staff preparing for REF have been affected by remote working, increased caring responsibilities and the impact of home schooling. Research leaders have been diverted from REF preparation and strategic planning by the demands of new COVID-related workstreams, impacting planning at school and institutional level. Work on the University’s Academic Plan, which includes formulating focus areas for research and impact as the foundation of preparations for the next REF, has been substantially disrupted, and scoping and target-setting work due to be completed early in 2020/21 has been delayed. Some activities planned by Professorial Fellows have been disrupted and recruitment of new Professorial Fellows has been postponed. Research degree students have been substantially disrupted by lack of access to facilities, external research sites and libraries and archives. Many have been affected by caring responsibilities and home schooling. There have been increased rates of interruption and we anticipate ongoing delayed completions. The University’s application for Research Degree Awarding Powers has been delayed. It was submitted to the Office for Students on 1st April 2020 with the expectation that it would be passed to QAA for scrutiny in summer 2020. OfS paused the application, delaying the QAA process and pushing back the potential award of RDAP by an academic year. In the face of these negative pressures, the University has found inventive ways to continue research activities, and to support staff and students. In the first lockdown the Gallery Curators issued a call for an ‘Out of Isolation’ exhibition, so that when campuses reopened in summer 2020 students and staff could share their creative responses to the pandemic. Research events including staff development sessions and inaugural lectures for new professors have been moved online, attracting large audiences. Research Degree activities likewise moved online, and in the 2019-20 student survey 97.5 per cent of students responded positively when asked about their experience of PhD research at UCA.