Environment submissions database

All CCCU Campuses, specialist facilities and Industry Hubs were closed from 20th March 2020 until the end of the formal REF2021 period (31st July) with relationships with research users and HEIs limited to online engagement. In addition, travel (national and international) was curtailed from February 2020. From 1st August to 31st December 2020, relationships and contacts with research users were limited due to closures, furlough, and/or diversion to COVID-19 and/or business continuity/survival responses. Specific impacts included: • Access to Specialist Facilities Closures led to cancelled, suspended or deferred projects and PGR studies dependent on our specialist facilities, including some time-limited activities that cannot be recovered. This affected research, PGR studies and delayed impact activities in UoAs 3, 4, 5, 18, 24, 33, 34. • Supporting Front Line Services CCCU has a long history of supplying graduates and undertaking research for public services. Staff, PGR students and undergraduates (supported by staff diverted for the purpose) were seconded or diverted to front line service in health (including clinical psychology and biological sciences [to supporting testing]), education and policing. This displaced research, PGR studies and impact activity in UoAs 3, 4, 5, 18, 23. • Lost and Deferred Income Research grants were suspended, deferring income into the next period. However, the most significant impact has been on our contract and evaluation research which, given our applied and practitioner focus, forms a significant part of our income. Some activities, programmes and interventions were deferred or suspended, a further group were scaled-down, but most were cancelled, meaning that contracted income has been deferred into the next period, reduced or, most often, lost. This has affected research, PGR studies and impact activities in all UoAs. • Curtailed and Deferred Impact Our research user partners in the public and third sectors, in industry (particularly SMEs) and internationally have closed or significantly curtailed operations, or diverted resources to COVID-19 and/or business continuity/survival responses, with many contacts furloughed or made redundant. This caused cancellations or delays to events, exhibitions, programmes, interventions, public engagement and policy development that has resulted in planned impact being lost or deferred. It has also limited our ability to collect and collate impact evidence. This has affected all UoAs. • Deferred, Curtailed or Modified Fieldwork or Dissemination Research projects and interventions dependent on access to any ‘real-world’ settings have been delayed, curtailed, modified or cancelled, particularly where public and front-line services, third sector and SMEs were involved, due to closure or restricted access (eg prisons; care homes), or the diversion of settings or staff to support COVID-19 and/or business continuity/survival responses. National and international travel to disseminate findings to academic and research user audiences has also been curtailed, modified or cancelled. This has affected research, PGR studies and impact activities in all UoAs. • Delayed PGR Completions Due to the factors set out above, all PGR studies have been delayed, with a resulting impact on expected completions during the period across all UoAs, particularly for our part-time PhD students and our practice/professional doctorates (EdD/DClinPsychol)