Last updated 8 April 2020.
Department of Statistics
Following guidance from the University, it has become necessary to close the St Giles’ building with access restricted to essential staff only. Admin and IT staff are working remotely and can be contacted by e-mail as usual. Please use the functional email addresses if you do not receive a response from an individual.
Members of the Department will be informed by e-mail and an update to this page should the situation change.
University of Oxford
The University has updated its guidance for staff and students – see https://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/coronavirus-advice. Please check this page for up-to-date information.
If members of the Department have any questions which are not covered by the University guidance, please contact Alison Etheridge or Irene Scullion.
Support for Remote working:
Working from home:
The Department’s Top Tips for Remote Working information sheet
Coronavirus working from home guide for university staff
DSE-2_Office_Seating_and_Posture_Guidance
COVID19: Advice and support for students
Oxford launches parent advice for self-isolating families
Looking after your mental health:
Supporting your mental health while working from home
Homeworking and wellbeing for staff HR: COVID-19 Resources
List of resources compiled by the University’s Counselling Services Coronavirus Resources (Counselling Services)
Specific concerns and issues for those with underlying mental health issues and neurodivergence
Mental Health Foundation – looking after your mental health during the coronavirus outbreak.
MIND – coronavirus and your wellbeing.
How to protect your mental health (BBC)
Oxford University Sport: Updated self-care advice and wellbeing resources
Plan a virtual holiday (Ideas to help you with switching off from work) VIRTUAL HOLIDAY IDEAS
Surviving 100 days of solitude (Guardian)
How to stay positive during the Coronavirus crisis (Guardian)
Oxford Mindfulness Podcasts and sessions
IT Support:
Ask for help:
Mail ithelp@stats.ox.ac.uk if you are struggling with IT when working from home. Please include the following information
– a short description of the problem
– the operating system you are using (Linux, Mac, Windows)
– your username
– any error messages you see
As usual, over the Easter break (Thursday 9 April – Monday 13 April) we will only be checking that services are running smoothly and dealing with emergencies.
Working from home
– Find a comfortable and quiet place to work. Sit with your back straight/don’t slouch – sofas are inviting but not the best for typing on a keyboard. If you don’t have a proper desk, try using a (e.g. dining) table; – if it becomes uncomfortable after a while, this is also a good indicator that you need to take a screen break! You should aim for at least 5 minutes away from your screen every hour.
– Set up the Statistics VPN (see https://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/home/it-support/remote-access/). Using the Statistics VPN means that you can log on to Statistics servers and desktops without going via gate.stats.ox.ac.uk and gives you access to the internal web pages.
– Set small, achievable goals. Don’t try to re-create your complete Department working environment all at once. Using your new set up, work out how best to achieve one task. Then move on to the next.
Backing up:
You are responsible for backing up laptops and home computers. The central HFS backup service is available to back-up most devices (it’s free). Full information can be found at https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/hfs/index
Software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, unfortunately however there is still no client available for the latest MacOS (10.15 Catalina)
Remember there is approved cloud storage that features built-in backups included with a selection of services from central IT:
Teams and OneDrive: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/nexus365/
SharePoint: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/nexus/sharepoint/index
Further useful information:
COVID-19 Guidance for older adults and their families
Parking and Travel: Season ticket arrangements