I know that all of you are facing unprecedented personal and professional challenges as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, I am acutely aware of the painful impact that the pause in non-essential research activities on campus is having on your research programs, and on the career trajectories of your trainees and research staff. This pause in on-campus research will remain in effect under the current Stay Home – Work Safe Order issued by the City of Austin. Research activities that can be done remotely, should be done remotely until the Stay Home – Work Safe Order is lifted. However, I want to assure you that during this time, my office is actively working with University officials, medical professionals, and your Deans to plan the process through which research activities will resume on campus.
Our central concern when resuming research activities on campus will be safety, both in terms of mitigating viral transmission and in terms of maintaining safe research operations. When on-campus research activities do resume, it will be in a phased approach spanning several weeks – we will not instantaneously resume normal operating conditions.
I appreciate that different research disciplines perform activities in distinct environments under unique conditions. To plan accordingly, my office will work closely with your Associate Deans for Research to consider discipline-specific processes for resuming research activities on campus in a safe manner. If you have questions or suggestions specific to restarting your own on-campus research operations, please consult with your Dean or Associate Dean for Research in your college so that your input can be considered in our planning process.
Once our planning process is complete, I will update you regarding the guidelines, policies, and procedures for resuming your on-campus research activities. Updates about procedures for the resumption of on-campus research will also be made available on our COVID-19 Research FAQ page. As a reminder, the current policies do not place restrictions on research activities being performed remotely from home in compliance with the Stay Home – Work Safe Order. I encourage you to continue to advance your research programs through remote work.
Sincerely,
Interim Vice President for Research
This communication is from Principal Investigators – Official. View this email online.
