A new survey has launched hoping to gather views from staff who have experienced any COVID-19-related discrimination within or outside of the university environment.

Responses will be kept confidential and will be used to aid the development of a COVID-19 discrimination reporting and support system for colleagues.

Take part in the survey here.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Police forces within the UK have reported an increase in the rate of discrimination people have experienced. Literature has shown that 70% of discrimination victims took no action regarding their experiences.

The university invites you to share with us your experiences if you have felt discriminated against within or outside (shopping centres, restaurants etc.) of the university environment.

You may also report on behalf of others e.g. friends/family/students who have experienced discrimination or if you witnessed a discriminatory event happening to e.g. a shopkeeper/bus driver/NHS worker within or outside of the university environment.

Examples may include but are not limited to: being refused entry to a restaurant; train passengers avoiding you; workplace discrimination; internet comments/abuse; or even physical assaults. You may also share more than one event by repeating the process of filling out the survey again.

The research project is led by Dr Li Shean Toh. Other team members include Professor Claire Anderson, Associate Professor Shihning Chou, Dr Jalpa Ruparelia and Dr Esther Mukuka.

This study has been reviewed by the School of Pharmacy Ethics Committee (010-2020).

We recognise that this can be a distressing subject and provide information and links to sources of support available at the university within the introduction to the survey.

Whilst we would encourage everyone affected to make a submission, we understand if it is too painful to revisit previous experiences in this way.

Find out more about the purpose of this research.