Environment submissions database

The research environment at Stranmillis University College was impacted in six main ways as a result of COVID-19: Access to schools to carry out face-to-face research activity (e.g. interviews, paper questionnaires, classroom observation) was halted following the closure of all schools in Northern Ireland (except for vulnerable children and the children of essential/key workers) from 20 March to 30 June 2020. The focus of staff was inevitably diverted away from research activity and towards developing a wide range of online teaching resources and assessments. This had a significant impact on the amount of time that was available for research-active staff to spend analysing existing data and/or drafting articles, as well as preparing research funding applications. Staff were unable to access their offices on campus from 24 March until 1 August. Many staff with caring responsibilities (e.g. children, elderly parents) found the period highly stressful, with pressure to deliver food supplies to relatives shielding and/or home-schooling their school-aged children for over 3 months. This again had a major impact on the ability of staff to focus on research activity. Staff were unable to gain experience of presenting or to avail of networking opportunities through travelling to national/international research conferences (cancelled during lockdown) or through taking advantage of Erasmus+ staff mobilities scheduled for June-September 2020. The College’s internal writing retreat which in recent years has led to the publication of numerous research articles was unable to take place in June 2020. Nonetheless the College has responded as effectively as possible to the challenges of the ongoing pandemic situation as follows: The Research Office moved all its functions online in the weeks preceding lockdown in March so that remote support could continue (e.g. financial management of ongoing projects, budgetary support for new bids). Support meetings moved online to Microsoft Teams. Support from the College’s visiting professors was able to continue through virtual meetings in May and November 2020. Line managers have been encouraged to show understanding towards staff whose research activity was impacted by COVID-19 (Academic Leadership Team). The College has shown a commitment to research and scholarship by honouring the time allocated to academic staff through the existing workload contribution model. The Research Office produced a series of instructional videos to support staff (and students) in their move to online research methods in 2020. The Research Office team hosted well-attended research webinars with both internal and external participants throughout lockdown and throughout the autumn term. Finally, the College made an invaluable contribution to the broader educational context in Northern Ireland during the lockdown through self-funding, conducting and publishing a self-funded research study on home-schooling which was widely reported in print, web and radio media, and led to an invitation to present evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee on 1 July 2020. The report was also cited in?DE circular 2020/05. A series of blog posts featuring input from Stranmillis staff (Purdy, Jones, Walsh, McMullen, Harris) and guest collaborators elicited wide public interest and positive feedback from stakeholders.