As an international institution, we regularly have staff and students working in a variety of contexts, both domestic and overseas, which can include attending conferences, working at partner organisations – many of them overseas – and carrying out fieldwork, placements or study in urban, rural and remote locations. Although much of this travel has not been possible during the pandemic, as travel starts to resume, the University has implemented new policy and guidance to ensure that all business travel undertaken by University staff and students is fully risk assessed, approved and undertaken safely.

New Business & Study Travel Policy
The new Business & Study Travel Policy sets out the University’s approach to business and study travel. It aims to ensure that where travel is proposed, consideration is given to the value it will add to the work or study activity in question and that these benefits outweigh any risk posed by the trip, the overall cost of the trip, and its impact on the environment. It outlines the measures in place, and required actions from travellers, to minimise the risks both of the travel and its associated activities and emphasises the potential tax implications for individuals and the University in relation to certain types of travel.

Launch of Travel Approval Portal
The University has recently launched a new travel approval portal for all trips taken by University staff or students when travelling on University business. All trips must be registered and approved via the Travel Portal.

Registering your trip for approval within the portal is required for the following purposes:

  • To ensure the appropriate risk assessment is in place
  • Download of the Safe Zone App
  • To ensure security colleagues are aware who is in country when political or emergency situations arise
  • To provide insurance cover under the University’s travel insurance policy
  • To check and ensure that the trip complies with local immigration, tax and other regulatory requirements.

Travel Risk Assessment
The Safety & Environmental Protection Service (SEPS) has developed, in consultation with areas of the University who typically have a high number of travellers, a risk-assessment template and guidance for business travel which takes the user through the key considerations to be made at the planning stage of a trip. The template includes an aid to establishing the criticality of the travel and a generic assessment of risks for types of trips generally considered as low risk, with the traveller only then having to consider any additional risks.

All business/study travel must be fully risk assessed.

First published: 31 May 2021

<< 31 May 2021