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Community update from Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft (6 April)

"Week two of lockdown, I hope it's been going okay for you. Lots going on, lots of fantastic work going on from colleagues across the campus from donating protective equipment, to making face shields, from developing ventilators, to our Medical School students working in hospitals. The provision of accommodation for NHS staff that we're doing at the moment, to live streaming of fitness classes and yes I am doing some live streamed fitness classes and what that tells me is I need to do a lot more.

Crucially, thanks to everybody who's putting such a lot of time and effort into a whole variety of things, those who are our critical workers thank you for keeping campus going when we needed you to do it. We've just started the process of furloughing staff if you are one of those, thank you to you as well. Our strategy of protecting jobs is really helped by the Government's scheme that enables us to to generate some resource for the wages of those of our colleagues who are unable to really do any work at all at the moment. Thanks also to those of you working incredibly hard at home in kitchens, bedrooms, wherever it might be.

For most of us, we're heading into an Easter weekend break the like of which we have never had before. But I hope everyone does get a little bit of time just to stop, just to rest, just to spend a bit of time with family and friends.

Do let me know how you are doing, I have been amazed with more than five-hundred messages from people across our campus. Please do write to me, just email me and tell me how things are going for you and any great ideas you've got about what else that we can do as a university. If you're having a break do enjoy it, the weather, it looks like it is going to be kind to us which is a wonderful thing if you can get outside to enjoy it. And most importantly, I hope you're all okay.

Thank you."

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart Croft