Environment submissions database

The pandemic has had a significant impact on the University’s ways of working but our overall strategy has remained on track. Investment in digital infrastructure, including our innovative Virtual Research Environment, which supports the entire life-cycle of staff and student research, enabled significant elements of our support for research activity (including REF2021 preparations) to be efficiently provided in a fully-integrated fashion online. Existing capacity in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office ensured we managed changes to funded projects, including work with external partners that may otherwise have been placed on hold. Conscious of our social responsibility as a central London institution, the University moved most activity online on March 18th 2020, ahead of the UK-wide lockdown on the 23rd. The University has since provided a supportive and compassionate environment for all colleagues and students through regular communications, by making sure all staff have the necessary equipment to carry out their work remotely, and by providing continued access to mental health support, including through our award-winning Juice platform. This includes online yoga, meditation and other courses to support mental health and mitigate the effects of continuous desk work. Third- and fourth-year doctoral students on internally-funded scholarships can apply for extensions to their funding (per UKRI), extended registration periods are offered for completing students up to September 2021, and all self-funded students granted partial fee waivers to cover the first few months of the pandemic. Mitigating circumstances claims related to any pandemic-related impacts are accepted for all key Annual Progress Review stages, without the usually required documentary evidence. Online seminars and training sessions have been provided online from April 2020, alongside a fortnightly Writing & Thriving Doctoral Thesis Surgery, and support for staff and students in moving to online vivas. A dedicated central London office has been provided with bookable space for PhD students finding it difficult to work at home, and safe reopening of laboratories prioritised for doctoral research. In 2019 the University implemented a laptops-first policy for new computing equipment that means most staff already had remote working capability. Where this was not the case, new laptops were courier-delivered to staff along with any necessary specialised electronic equipment in early summer 2020, with priority given to those with special requirements related to protected characteristics. There was a further £150 IT allowance which allowed all staff to purchase additional equipment. From March-July 2020 Library and Archives Service was provided completely online, with increased electronic resources. Training sessions were also moved online, with additional sessions. Online guidance was developed and expanded. Our Archives team has increased the number of digital objects publicly available by almost 500% in 2020. Researchers and facilities in our School of Life Science and Fabrication Laboratory were diverted to COVID-related work. In May 2020, the University announced an emergency internal funding call for creative proposals to address the pandemic, with funding totalling £218,592. Projects supported ranged from quarantine radio to racialised discourses around COVID-19 to effects of a fibre rich diet on incidence and severity of the virus.