School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine

Policy for Travel Associated with the School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine

Our research and teaching activities inevitably involve travel, both by our members and by those it invites (for instance to interviews, to give seminars or to act as external examiners). However, we also believe that we should be acting to minimise the adverse impact of travel, and so should always consider aspects such as carbon emissions when making travel decisions. With this in mind, we adopt the following guidelines (which reflect the University's own Sustainable Travel Policy detailed in the document "Guidance for Sustainable Business Travel for Staff and Postgraduate Researchers" available for download from that policy page):

Seminar speakers:

The normal expectation is that invited speakers should not travel by air – this is not ruled out but should only occur occasionally. We should therefore choose our speakers carefully, asking those who are based at a distance or who have limited time availability due to caring responsibilities to give seminars by videoconference (VC). We should embrace the idea of VC seminars and promote their benefits (e.g. allowing more of our members to hear them regardless of the physical location of the audience, and allowing us to have seminar speakers from across the globe and those who would be unable to travel) while minimising their limitations (e.g. by facilitating one-to-one meetings between seminar speakers and our members, in particular ECR’s, as well as broader post-seminar discussions).

External examiners:

The Covid19 pandemic has shown us that it is possible to run PhD oral examinations via video links, but that in these situations the student is in danger of missing out on the social interactions related to vivas: for instance, running the viva within our buildings allows the candidate to celebrate with their peers after the event. However, as with seminar speakers the normal expectation is that external examiners should not travel by air, so that they should either be selected from within the UK or should conduct their examination by VC (while the rest of the committee and candidate gather in person). In this situation it is still possible for the candidate to interact informally with the external examiner (so gaining the benefits of networking) after the event, through arranging a subsequent VC chat on a different day. External examiners who have travelled to Glasgow should be encouraged to also meet ECR’s and to give a seminar, in order to maximise the value gained from their visit.

Job interviews:

Depending on the nature of the job under consideration, it is often possible to hold interviews with candidates via video (there are no requirements e.g. from Human Resources for interviews to be held in person). One advantage of video interviews is that arrangements can potentially be made more quickly (since there is no need to sort out travel/accommodation). The option of video interviews should be given serious consideration for any job interview being held – one model being to hold a first round of interviews by video, with the aim of selecting 1-2 top candidates who are then invited to Glasgow for a final interview and the chance to see facilities and meet some of our members.

Other travel:

Members need to travel for a range of reasons, and in some cases this must be by air, and there is no desire to clamp down on this necessary travel (e.g. for fieldwork or conferences). But all of our staff and students should adopt the same approach as outlined above, avoiding air travel where possible, and asking about the possibility to present seminars or act as external examiners by VC if flying is the only option. Those examining by VC should offer to talk separately with the student to discuss their next steps etc.