We strongly encourage all staff and students to take up the vaccine. 

The more of us who are vaccinated the more it helps reduce transmission and the health consequences if you do catch the virus.

Information on the Northern Ireland COVID-19 Vaccination Programme is available on the NI Direct website.

You can book your vaccination online. 

We strongly encourage all staff and students to take up the vaccine. The more of us who are vaccinated the more it helps reduce transmission and the health consequences if you do catch the virus.

All eligible adults (and some younger age groups) can get vaccinated. You do not have to be registered with a GP.

Information on the Northern Ireland COVID-19 Vaccination Programme is available on the NI Direct website.

You can book your vaccination online. 

Registering with a GP

We also recommend that, if you have not done so already, that you register with a GP.

For information on how to register with a GP, please visit the MyQueen’s site.

We strongly encourage all staff and students to take up the vaccine.

The more of us who are vaccinated the more it helps reduce transmission and the health consequences if you do catch the virus.

You can book your vaccination online. 

Just bring your photographic ID and proof of address (for example, a bill or letter from the University).

We strongly encourage all staff and students to take up the vaccine. The more of us who are vaccinated the more it helps reduce transmission and the health consequences if you do catch the virus.

Find information on how to arrange an appointment or access a walk-in vaccination centre in England, Scotland or Wales:

• Scotland: www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccine
• England: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/
• Wales: https://gov.wales/get-your-covid-19-vaccination-if-you-think-you-have-been-missed 

We strongly encourage all staff and students to take up the vaccine; however, it is not mandatory.

However, the more of us who are vaccinated the more it helps reduce transmission and the health consequences if you do catch the virus. It is therefore important to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

View the schedule for on-campus walk-in vaccination clinics at Queen's.

No appointment necessary. Just bring your photographic ID and proof of address (for example, a bill or letter from the University).

For larger teaching sessions, staff are encouraged to schedule sessions to allow a longer time period at the beginning and at the end of the session to facilitate an orderly entrance and exit from the teaching space.

All lecture theatres, teaching spaces and laboratories on the campus are able to be ventilated in a number of different ways:

1. Mechanically ventilated.
2. Naturally ventilated where air changes occur through the opening of windows and doors.
3. Or a combination of mechanical and natural ventilation. 

The current University estate complies with the standards of The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993. 

In line with Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) guidance, a ventilation survey of teaching spaces has been undertaken, with risk assessments for these areas updated as necessary. 

In mechanically ventilated rooms, normal capacities have been measured against ventilation requirements and modified, where applicable, to maintain adequate ventilation levels.

For rooms within categories (2) and (3) above, taking on board recommendations from the HSENI, adequate ventilation can be achieved by:

• Regular opening of windows and doors throughout the working day. For example, at the beginning/end of the teaching session. 

And/or:

• Leaving, fully or partially, window(s)/door(s) open, where possible, throughout the working day.

To support the above, University heating systems will be carefully monitored and configured to help keep ambient temperatures comfortable for students and staff. When deciding what to wear on campus, we encourage you to consider that spaces will be ventilated.

Several portable air filtration units have been deployed strategically across campus in locations where they will have maximum impact. The main benefit will be reducing, but not removing, the need to naturally ventilate some rooms.

University heating systems will be carefully monitored and configured to help keep ambient temperatures comfortable for staff and students in naturally ventilated spaces during the winter months. When deciding what to wear on campus, we encourage you to consider that spaces will be ventilated.

While legal restrictions regarding the requirement to socially distance have been removed and replaced with guidance, the University would encourage everyone to continue to keep their distance as much as possible when moving around campus, in teaching spaces and office areas.

The requirement to have defined distances between colleagues’ workstations has been removed. This means that rooms are at normal occupancy capacity and the temporary ‘one-way’ requirements and other signage have been removed. However, when working on campus, colleagues are encouraged to be respectful of one another and maintain social distancing where possible.

No. For now, students are free to sit on any seat regardless of signage and we will advise staff and students if this changes.

In some teaching spaces, you will notice that we have signage in place which will only be used if the Public Health Authority ask universities and colleges to implement increased social distancing. We have done this in advance to minimise disruption to your teaching should we have to make this change at short notice.

If a student with a hearing impairment is registered with disability services this will be on their Individual Student Support Agreement (ISSA).

For all new students being assessed for the first time, Disability Services are putting a specific line in the ISSA to advise on the use of appropriate face coverings, where they are being used in a teaching setting.

New ISSAs are completed throughout the first semester and the Disability Services team have been working since A-Level results were confirmed to assess incoming students but the volumes of students means this takes time. They are working on it as fast as they can.

For returning students who have hearing impairments but with older ISSAs they may take longer to update as we naturally need to focus on new students – but their ISSA will confirm to you that they have a hearing impairment and therefore you can assume the same adjustments are necessary.

It is important to be mindful that face coverings can pose a challenge to individuals with Hearing Impairment who rely on lip reading and facial expression to communicate. It is recommended that staff use face visors / transparent face coverings that ensure accessibility and inclusion for individuals with hearing impairment.

Contact the University Safety Service (safety@qub.ac.uk) if you require a face visor / transparent face covering.

Staff should follow the usual Sickness Absence Procedure for reporting and managing absences from work due to self-isolation in relation to COVID-19. You can find information on getting an isolation note on the NHS website.

Students should follow the normal procedure for reporting sickness absences from study due to COVID-19.

Regulations for Students 5.11 states that students must inform the relevant School Office of absence due to illness within three working days of returning to studies. Medical evidence will be required for absence longer than five working days.

If a student is absent from campus due to self-isolation but well enough to continue with their studies, they do not need to report sickness absence but should advise their School that they are not able to attend in person. Students have been advised that Schools will do what they can to support students who are well enough to study while isolating.

If you have symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19, you should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. In Northern Ireland, COVID-19 testing is no longer recommended for most people if they develop symptoms, though testing is advised for some specific groups.

If you have symptoms of any respiratory infection, including COVID-19, and don’t feel well enough to work, you should follow our usual Sickness Absence Procedure, which provides a consistent, fair and effective way of managing absences from work, covering areas such as notifying your manager when sick; return to work; monitoring absence; absence thresholds; and support available to employees and managers.

If you have symptoms of any respiratory infection, including COVID-19, and you are well enough to work from home and can do so, you should speak to your line manager and agree to work from home until your symptoms have cleared. If it is not possible to carry out your work remotely, you should follow our usual Sickness Absence Procedure.

For staff in those specific groups where testing is still recommended, if you test positive, you should stay at home for five days after the last positive test, or from the day when symptoms started – whichever is earlier. As set out above, if you are well enough to work from home, you should speak to your line manager and agree to work from home if you can. If you are not well enough or not able to work from home, you should follow our usual Sickness Absence Procedure.

If you are feeling anxious, you can contact Inspire, the University’s confidential employee assistance programme, or talk to your line manager.

For more information about how you can take care of your mental health and wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic, please visit our Staff Wellbeing page.

Inspire can provide you with advice on a range of topics, and, if needed, will also provide counselling support.  This service is completely confidential, available 24/7 and is free of charge to all employees. 

Staff can call the Freephone number 0800 389 5362 at any time of the day or night, seven days a week.

Some of the areas Inspire can help with are listed below - but this list is not exhaustive so please call no matter what you need advice/support on:

• addiction
• anxiety or depression
• bereavement
• bullying and harassment
• debt problems
• employment concerns
• experience of a traumatic event
• family worries
• personal relationship problems
• stress

They have also developed an online platform, which provides a wealth of online wellbeing resources for you to access and read at your own pace. Please click here for more information.

For staff wellbeing information and events, please visit the People and Culture website.

To help keep you up-to-date with the latest information and updates, we continue to regularly update information provided on this COVID-19 (Coronavirus) FAQs website.

Please continue to regularly check the following websites for the latest updates and guidance:

• the University's FAQs page for students and staff
• NI Direct: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• the Public Health Agency website
• Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website
• GOV.UK website
• The World Health Organization

Please follow guidance published on the Public Health Agency website.

If the information you are looking for is not addressed in the University's Coronavirus (COVID-19) FAQs, there are a range of contact points for staff and students: