Dear colleague,

Welcome to the fifteenth issue of Review — the ProtectED newsletter.

We hope that this newsletter finds you safe and well, given the unprecedented circumstances in which we find ourselves. Fortunately, our team is able to work from home — we know that not all our readers are able to do this, and we hope you are staying safe.

In the last issue of Review, we advertised the next ProtectED Conversations event that we planned to hold at the end of April. Unfortunately, this could not go ahead and, like all such public events, we have had to hit 'pause' on our ProtectED Conversations programme for the time being. We hope to be able to reschedule the April event for later in the year — possibly October, when things may be more settled. We will send out further details as soon as we know more.

Our first ProtectED Reflections online event is entitled 'Lockdown Insights – Struggles and Solutions for University Security and Student Accommodation'. This will discuss challenges relating to the COVID-19 lockdown, student accommodation and the provision campus services. We know this is a topic on a lot of people’s minds.

This event will take place at 11.00am on Thursday 28 May 2020, and is FREE to attend when you register here. We're pleased to announce that we have two fantastic speakers lined up:

• Claire Humble – Head of Campus Security at Teesside University  
• Frankie O’Connell – Head of Operations for London at Unite Students

There is also the opportunity to ask questions in advance, just follow the link for more details and to register. We look forward to you joining us.

In other news, Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited, a long-standing ProtectED supporter, has been giving extra support to students signed up with them throughout the lockdown. They have been kind enough to give us some insight into the policy changes they have introduced, and the most common questions they have been asked. Take a look at the FAQ's and answers here. Keep a look out for an interview coming soon with Billy FitzJohn from Endsleigh.

Over the past few weeks, we've had the honour of featuring a number of insightful blog articles from students on their lockdown experience. It has been inspiring to see how well they are coping. Ellie Macdonald kindly shared with us her experience of being a university student during lockdown and also a frontline worker for the NHS. Meanwhile, Cora Dixon helped us understand how she is coping with her studies being online. Further blog articles giving the students perspective will be featured on the ProtectED website over the next couple of weeks — so make sure you take a look. We will also be continuing our interviews with professionals, experts and leaders from across the university sector, so make sure you're following us on Twitter and LinkedIn so that you don’t miss the interesting insights we have lined up!

We'd love to feature more articles on topics relating to student and staff safety, security and wellbeing issues — and also how the current situation has changed the university landscape for all of us. If you have an idea for an article that you would like to share — on an initiative, news item or event promoting student safety, security and wellbeing that we can support — please e-mail Lisa at l.ravenscroft@Protect-ED.org. We look forward to working with you.

As usual, we provide a round-up below of current news, events and initiatives around student safety, security and wellbeing. Don’t forget to contact l.ravenscroft@Protect-ED.org if you have anything you would like us to feature in the next ProtectED Review newsletter.

Best wishes,

If you're a new subscriber, here's a little about us:

ProtectED is a not-for-profit membership organisation that aims to improve the safety, security and wellbeing of students in Higher Education.

Membership subscription supports ProtectED's three core functions:  

1. ProtectED accreditation — Implementing good practice  

Assessment and accreditation of Member HEIs against the ProtectED Code of Practice.

2. Analysis & insight — Understanding 'what works' & why  

Analysis of anonymised, aggregated data to better understand issues and support improvement of ProtectED Member practice and performance.

3. Celebrating good practice — Recognising excellence  

Championing improved student safety, security and wellbeing through the promotion of exemplar HEI practice and engagement with key stakeholders.