Research and coronavirus

• Restarting research funding

  The University of St Andrews has received funds as part of the £75 million boost for Scottish university research scheme announced by the Scottish Government in May 2020. The key aims of this Scottish Funding Council (SFC) funding are to mitigate impacts of Covid-19 on research and protect jobs at all levels of research.

  Current staff can visit the restarting research funding page for more information.

• Research funding

  Last updated: 30 March 2020

  The Research Business Development and Contracts (RBDC) team will continue to provide research funding opportunities, application and contract support via e-mail, Microsoft Teams and Skype. RBDC have developed a webpage listing updates from research funders regarding Covid-19. Please contact your Business Development Manager or your FAS team should you have issues relating to research projects affected. In addition, there are Covid-19 specific funding opportunities which we will keep up to date and can be accessed via the following Microsoft Teams link: Covid-19 Research Funding Opportunities. Please contact your Business Development Manager should you be interested in obtaining research funding for a COVID-19 project.

  Last updated: 26 March 2020

  The Finance Advice and Support (FAS) team will continue to provide support via e-mail, Microsoft Teams and Skype. Please continue to liaise with your FAS team with regards any costings for new applications, and please continue to copy your FAS team in when liaising with funders regarding any project changes e.g. project extensions, extensions to reporting deadlines so we can ensure that our records are accurate.

• Research integrity

  Last updated: 24 March 2020

  Nothing has changed here – the policies outlining the principles of good research conduct, our desire for individuals to ask questions and raise concerns, and our procedures for handling allegations of research misconduct are unaffected. For further information about research integrity, and contact points, please go the research integrity web page.

• Research governance

  Last updated: 24 August 2020
  
  All research governance functions are operational, i.e. processes for obtaining the specific approvals that are required for all research involving the NHS, and for some international research. The latter may require due diligence of overseas partner organisations (when the University transfers the partner funds that they then control), or obtaining approvals related to export control laws (the physical or electronic transfer of 'controlled' goods, software or information over national borders) or the Nagoya protocol laws (the removal of non-human genetic material from its country of origin for subsequent research).
  
  For further information on the above, and contact points, please follow the guidance and links on the research governance web page.

• Research involving human participants, their samples or data

  Regarding all such research 

  Last updated: 27 July 2020

  At the current time, researchers are strongly encouraged to use online or remote methods for research involving humans. If this is not possible, research involving in-person face-to-face contact with participants can only start or resume if it is permissible, safe and ethical - if these conditions cannot be satisfied the research must continue to be postponed. This includes research which has been given ethical approval in principle.  

  The interim guidance page for research involving humans describes what is required in more detail but briefly, researchers must:

  • Obtain or update risk assessments in line with current travel and fieldwork guidance or that relating to incoming visitors
  • Ensure that any travel or fieldwork is covered, or still covered, by University insurance
  • Use the most up to date versions of the participant information sheet (PIS) (Word) and consent form (Word) as these contain information and instructions regarding the NHS Scotland track and trace scheme 
  • Submit an ethical application, or amendment application form to your School ethics committee (they will only accept this if the prior steps have been completed and evidenced).

  This page also details the risk proportionate review process, which has been temporarily introduced to mitigate the impact on review timescales and School ethics committee workloads, and the enhanced ethical issues to consider when conducting research during the coronavirus pandemic.

  Guidance on ethical issues for research involving humans

  The core guidance on ethical issues for research involving humans was reviewed in light of the current circumstances. Existing topics such as Consent have been updated and new topics such as Online interviews and focus groups have been added to reflect the increased focus on online and remote methods. These guidance topics describe best practice plus some of the practical and ethical issues researchers may need to consider when making an ethical review application for research involving these methods

  COVID-19 Ethics Forum

  The University Teaching and Research Ethics Committee (UTREC) has instated a weekly Covid-19 Ethics Forum to allow for more communication and knowledge-sharing between School ethics committees(SECs). This forum gives SECs the opportunity to discuss new or challenging ethical issues they may encounter. It also provides a mechanism for SECs to regularly feedback to UTREC any issues, such as where there may be a need for additional guidance or adaptations as circumstances evolve.

  Regarding all such research that involves engagement of fieldworkers and working with collaborators

  If another person is undertaking work on a St Andrews researcher’s behalf it is important that:

  • the activity is permissible, safe, ethical, and culturally appropriate
  • the fieldworker or collaborator is not subjected to pressure or coercion from those in St Andrews to undertake this work, or assume risks, such as through threat of financial or other disadvantage
  • the relationship between the St Andrews researcher and the fieldworker or collaborator must be in line with pre-COVID norms as appropriate to the situation. For example, paying individuals to collect certain types of data might be an established pre-COVID norm in some situations, but where participatory collaboration is the norm this may be unethical.

• Research involving the NHS

  Last updated: 27 July 2020

  NHS resources continue to be under pressure and researchers wishing to start or restart research involving the NHS should consult the research involving the NHS webpage and contact researchgovernance@st-andrews.ac.uk to discuss this.

• Research involving animals, their samples or data

  Last updated: 18 August 2020

  Due to the current circumstances (Phase 3 of the Scottish Government’s roadmap out of lockdown), we are now resuming some of our research activities involving animals. Only the most essential work is being permitted to begin with; as the Scottish Government announces further easing of lockdown restrictions and plans are finalized on how to continue to open up safely, further research as well as training of new researchers/students will be allowed. Named Animal Care and Welfare Officers (NACWOs) are working with researchers to produce a careful schedule of when work can take place, with the goal of maximising physical distancing. NACWOs will also be responsible for deciding which activities remain permissible. This response has been considered in consultation with the Home Office and is in line with the approach being taken by other Universities. Please be assured that additional guidance and processes have been developed to ensure the safety of researchers and technicians, as well as the welfare of the animals. This message will be updated as further developments occur.

• Research impact

  Last updated: 25 August 2020

  The Research Impact Team continues to support ongoing work with regards to research impact.  Please refer to the Impact Funding page .

  All funding decisions must consider the guidance set out in "Research involving human participants, their samples or data" above. Please contact us via impact@st-andrews.ac.uk with any queries that require our attention.

• SFC GCRF

  Last updated: 25 Aug 2020

  The St Andrews Global Challenges Forum continues to support ongoing SFC GCRF funded projects. In response to the COVID-19 disruptions, BEIS/SFC granted an extension for the FY 2019-20 spend deadline to the end December 2020 (formerly 31 July 2020). The annual reporting deadline has also been extended and we will contact PIs with a new reporting deadline soon - potentially mid-November. We continue to accept ODA compliant Rapid Response and COVID-19 related applications. For further information on these or updates on the FY 2020-21 funding, please check the GCRF webpages. Please contact ris_gcrf@st-andrews.ac.uk with any queries you may have.

• Technology transfer

  Last updated: 24 March 2020

  The Technology Transfer Centre (TTC) will continue to support academic colleagues in the protection and management of intellectual property, and where possible will continue to support commercialisation activity.

  TTC staff will contact inventors in advance of any patent deadlines, and where new disclosures arise please send a copy of draft manuscripts to ustanip@st-andrews.ac.uk and a member of the TTC team will contact you to discuss further. To support compliance with the terms and conditions of funding we will continue to protect new intellectual property as it arises. When required, meetings can be arranged via Microsoft Teams.

• REF2021

  Last updated: 29 June 2020

  The RIS team are continuing work on our institutional REF preparations in line with the published schedule from the UK REF team. The official response from the UK REF team on Covid-19 can be found on the REF website.

  A new submission date of 31 March 2021 has been announced along with an extension to the assessment period for impact to 31 December 2020. The impact assessment extension has been put in place to enable case studies affected by, or focusing on the current response to, COVID-19 to be assessed in REF 2021. The significant effort that has been invested so far by institutions in preparations for the current REF cycle has been recognised and in view of this, the REF staff census date (31 July 2020) currently remains unchanged. The funding bodies plan a review in November 2020 to consider whether further contingency arrangements for the REF may be necessary. We will keep you informed as we hear more from the national level. 

  We are here to support you with any questions you may have regarding REF.  Please feel free to get in touch via the usual email channels, as detailed on the REF 2021 web page.

• Open access publishing

  Last updated: 24 August 2020

  Online publishing activities are continuing, and the Open Access (OA) team are available remotely to answer your queries about open access options. We aim to provide the support you need to make your publications openly available where possible. Contact openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk in the first instance and we can arrange virtual meetings via Teams or Skype if you wish to discuss your query. 

  Pure remains available for deposit of accepted manuscripts and we have guidance on how to deposit in Pure. We can arrange APC payments and open access with publishers according to the current criteria for OA funding. New agreements are being put in place with several publishers – check the Publisher OA memberships page for details.

  We recommend following funder and REF2021 OA policies, bearing in mind all the benefits of making as much research publicly available as possible. See Essential information about Open Access.

• Research data management

  Last updated: 24 August 2020

  The research data management team are available remotely to support key activities for managing and sharing your research data. We continue to review data management plans, provide DOIs and accept data deposits in Pure where you choose to do so. We recommend you continue to follow all existing guidance and funder policies on sharing research data where possible. The processes for data underpinning theses will also continue as normal. Contact us at research-data@st-andrews.ac.uk.

• Risk assessment

  Last updated: 20 August 2020

  Some travel and fieldwork may be possible if restrictions allow and if it is deemed safe. For guidance on this and the requirements for risk assessments relating to research travel and fieldwork, visit the Travel and fieldwork in the context of the pandemic page.