“'Working from dining table'” is a new concept for me but a necessity brought about in the current crisis. As Divisional Manager for Biomedical Sciences, the challenge has been firstly to ensure the continuity of any critical laboratory work with the associated challenges of the procurement of laboratory equipment and consumables and timing of deliveries, tricky when most University purchasing has ground to a halt.

The next challenge has been to facilitate the conversion of one of our laboratories at the Clinical Sciences Research Laboratories (CSRL) on the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (UHCW) site into a Covid-19 testing centre. There has been a huge amount of administration going on in the background, not least to ensure that hospital staff who are going to be involved in the testing are able to access what is a University building. Apart from all this, the Division of Biomedical Sciences is business as usual as far as humanly possible, with seminars, meetings, projects all continuing, albeit in a different form.

Everyone appears to be adjusting really well. I feel very proud of our admin team members who are supporting our staff and students to the best of their abilities and our dedicated clinicians and talented scientists who have stepped up to help fight this unseen enemy."