Following the email earlier in the week stating that fieldwork has been suspended, we can provide the following update:
Specific approvals are needed for a limited amount of essential field work.
All fieldwork activities, including face-to-face data collection, will ordinarily have a risk assessment and guidance (or standard operating procedure) produced prior to them being undertaken. These are usually developed between PGR and supervisor. The risk assessment and guidance now need to be updated taking into account the latest Departmental COVID-19 risk assessments. Once completed these revised documents should be shared with your departmental technical manager or COVID Secure Lead who will then apply for institutional sign off.
Talk to your departmental manager, technical manager or COVID secure lead if you have questions about this.
Face-to-face research (such as interviews, participant observation, ethnography) should move online if this is appropriate. Please check whether any changes to your data collection methods require further ethical review before you start.
In terms of PGRs who are currently overseas, you must follow the local (meaning the host country’s government) guidance and so the change in UK/England government guidance does not necessarily impact on your current activities unless you are due to return to the UK: these current overseas activities will already have been risk assessed and so they can continue. There is government guidance for New international students and students returning from overseas (Page 16/17).