Environment submissions database

The Northern Ireland Executive’s COVID-19 measures necessitated the temporary halting of most of Ulster University’s campus-based research activity in March 2020. A Research Recovery Working Group was established to provide guidance on the resumption on campus of research activity that could not be carried out from home. Following robust risk assessment, by July 2020, 500 staff and PhD researchers working on 287 research projects resumed research on campus and arrangements were made to facilitate all other researchers working from home. To help address the challenges of the disruption to research activity, a new Research Recovery Fund was secured from the Department for the Economy. The Research Recovery funding of £2,176,000 is being used to respond to the impact of the disruption to research activity and the career development of Early Career Researchers, the required extensions to doctoral programmes, the loss of commercial income to support research and innovation and the increase in administration costs. The pandemic brought additional challenges to the PhD community. Senate approval was granted for an additional 3 month no-fee extension for all PhDs whose progress has been affected by COVID-19. PhD Researchers due to complete between April 2020 and March 2021 were invited to apply for funding for additional stipend payments for delays directly caused by COVID-19. Additionally, all full-time UK/EU postgraduate research students at the university are eligible for a £500 COVID Disruption Payment provided by the Department for the Economy. PhD researchers may also apply for transfer to pro-rata funded part-time status. Substantial institutional activity has been diverted to support COVID-19 related research. To prevent the spread of the virus, our researchers are working with local and national government to scale up screening and develop new antibody testing. We are part of the Northern Ireland COVID-19 Testing Scientific Advisory Consortium established to increase molecular testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2 and to apprise Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer. Ulster’s geneticists established a COVID-19 diagnostic PCR testing laboratory within Altnagelvin Hospital, and led a fundraising appeal, raising £120,000 to fund the automation of the PCR testing lab. Our data scientists are working as part of the local government task force to predict the trajectory of infection. We have pivoted the use of our 3D modelling technology to design, fabricate and supply front line workers with PPE. Our researchers have been appointed as key advisers on COVID-19 government and industry taskforces including the StopCovid-19 Expert Group, the Government Specialist Modelling Response Expert Group, the NI COVID-19 Serology Task Force and the UK Rapid Test Consortium. Economists from Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre are advising local and national government on the projected impacts of COVID-19 on the economy. Research has also been undertaken to explore the impact of COVID-19 on society. This includes the development of a health and wellbeing checker (V-HAWK), research into the effects of social distancing on our physical and mental health and a rapid response survey developed by our psychologists to examine the mental health and social impacts of COVID-19.