Dear Research PIs:
This memo provides advice and links to resources dedicated to research. The University currently intends to remain open and to permit all research activities to continue. We will send out announcements about any research-relevant activity restrictions.
The latest general UT information about the COVID-19 outbreak includes research-relevant information about sponsored travel and other activities. It is available here:
Given the fast-moving situation, we have a dedicated COVID-19 research FAQ page that we can update regularly. You can access it here:
The FAQ page has a link to a curated Sponsored Projects links and FAQ page that will address questions about grant submission, grant management, and research activity. The page also includes links to pages with FAQs and general guidance about human subjects research from ORSC and the IRB and about animal research from the IACUC and ARC.
Guidance for researchers:
- Have a communications plan in place for your group. Make sure that all group members know how to reach each other, both on campus and off.
- Have a continuity plan. Discuss with your group how you will be able to maintain research activities if some of you are ill or are unable to come to work.
- Make sure everyone has access to resources needed for remote work: Can everyone in your group remotely access any materials they need to continue their work? This includes having permissions for and knowing how to access firewalled journals and scholarly collection through UT Libraries and access to the data repositories and datasets and software tools that they would normally be able to access on campus.
- Make sure that your group all has the software tools and network access to permit long-distance group meetings (test it!).
- Arrange work to anticipate the possibility of additional restrictions in the future: Where possible, carry out lab experiments now and stockpile data for later analysis. Freeze or otherwise preserve samples at intermediate stages in case of interruption.
We want to be able to provide the best available knowledge to the whole research community. If you have questions, please submit them to vp-research-sr@austin.utexas.edu with the Subject line “FAQ”. We will answer you directly and share your question and answer with the community.
Sincerely,
