Environment submissions database

Priority activity for staff Academic and support staff have had to focus their time and energy on supporting students during the pandemic and to moving much of their teaching online. This also involved redesigning the delivery of courses over the summer term and summer of 2020 for the academic year 2020/21. This has directly impacted on staff research activity, completing research outputs including one member of staff unable to take scheduled sabbatical leave to complete a practice-based research output. Staff health and wellbeing Some staff have been ill with the virus and others with ongoing health conditions have had to shield, resulting in some loss of engagement with research groups and activities. Additional support for students and concern about their wellbeing as well as the effect of the pandemic restrictions has had a cumulative and attritional effect on staff mental health. Delivery of research projects Some research projects have been delayed or suspended because research partners have had to prioritise core activity (Norfolk County Council Children and Young People Mental Health Services) or had to lockdown (Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust-Northside House). International travel has not been possible, which has led to the long-term suspension of a research project in rural Ethiopia with the University of Addis Ababa (Print to promote Health and Wellbeing). Closure of venues Galleries and many arts venues and organisations have closed or gone out of business. This has directly impacted on two NUA research outputs with the delay of scheduled exhibitions. EAST GalleryNUA had to close an exhibition early that is cited in a NUA Impact case study, reducing its visitor figures. Evidence of impact Some planned activity to gather and enhance impact evidence and for emerging impact (including focus groups, individual meetings and data capture of space usage) has been cancelled. These meetings could not take place online due to the vulnerabilities of some participants (recovering drug users and forensic mental health patients). Some testimonials to support Impact Case studies have failed to materialise after being promised/agreed, either because key staff have had to prioritise other work (including because they have a reduced number of staff) or in one case because a key contact left the organisation, which had drastically reduced its activity because of the pandemic restrictions. Research students There has been some delay to student progress in the last year. Three students have taken time out from study during the pandemic, two because they were unable to proceed with practice-based research and one other because of difficulties relating to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Research support The University’s research support infrastructure has developed over the REF assessment period but it remains small. The impacts of staff absence and in one case a delay in recruitment caused by the pandemic has meant that the team has been depleted at key periods in the final stages of REF 2021.