Fieldwork and University devices
We understand that fieldwork is often an essential part of University teaching, learning and research, which inspires and enables academic and personal development.
If you’re planning fieldwork that will take you outside of the UK or to remote locations (without connectivity) within the UK for a period of longer than one month, and taking University issued devices with you, please get in touch with IT Services at least eight weeks prior to your trip.
We want to ensure that your devices perform the way you need them to, whilst still allowing them to be supported during that time.
We’ve created a checklist that we’ll go through with you before you go:
- The availability of internet connectivity – this will determine some of the settings we’ll configure on your laptop or mobile phone, such as automatic software updates.
- It’s important to know the classification of the data you’ll be collecting or working with.
- General cyber security considerations when travelling with devices
- We’ll discuss multi-factor authentication options for your device(s) that will work for you while you’re away.
- Who will need to login to the device or devices? One user, or will a shared device configuration be required?
- The University’s VPN (virtual private network) allows staff University network when working remotely. Some University services require a VPN connection to access them – we’ll discuss what University systems you’ll need access to while you’re away.
- Some software licenses expire after a set period, and this could happen when you’re away; we’ll discuss the software you use and configure your device(s) to mitigate the risk of any changes during this time.
- It’s important to ensure your data is backed-up we’ll discuss the best way to do this with you.
- We’re happy to offer a back-up or loan device if required – we’ll discuss your requirements with you.
- We’ll check you’re on an appropriate tariff for your mobile phone for your country of travel. The standard tariff we provision for use in the UK; a temporary tariff may be more appropriate.
Please do get in touch, and we’ll arrange to meet with you (in person or over Teams) to discuss your fieldwork in more detail.