Travel Insurance

The University has a block travel insurance policy which will provide cover to students and University staff travelling on University business.  All travel insurance applications are made through an online application process: once submitted, applications are automatically routed for departmental authorisation.  If you do not wish to apply for University travel insurance, the system can also be used to register travel details so that in the event of any crisis the University can provide support. The University will not reimburse the cost incurred by individuals if they chose to take out their own, alternative insurance.

Supervisors

The on-line system asks for the name of a supervisor.  For graduate students this must be the main supervisor named on GSS; for research staff this should be either the PI, supervisor or centre director, as applicable; and for undergraduates on their year abroad this will be the IECL Administrator.  The supervisor will be sent a system-generated e-mail asking them to approve the travel, before the application then comes back to the Faculty Office to be processed as normal. 

Application and Approval Process

Insurance cover will only be effective if the application has been approved by the Faculty Office prior to the date of outward travel. If insurance applications are not received prior to travel, staff will not be insured and will be personally liable for the costs of any loss, injury or delay which occurs while they are abroad.  If booking flights, it is recommended that you apply for insurance at the time you make the booking and in all cases at least two weeks before the proposed date of travel to allow time for the application to be processed and approved. For high risk travel requiring Saftery Office approval please apply at least four weeks before the proposed date of travel.

The application process can be accessed through the University travel insurance website. You will be required to enter your personal traveller details the first time you use the system: these will be stored and need only be reviewed /amended as necessary for future applications. You will then need to add trip information and attach supporting documentation by file upload where applicable: this will include risk assessments.

The University’s policy will cover reasonable personal time (e.g. weekends off at the end of a full working week), but if you have considerable personal time booked then you are advised to arrange your own cover for that period.  To be eligible for insurance, staff and students must be travelling on business for the University of Oxford, and must be members of staff or students in the Faculty of Law.  Any queries about this should be forwarded to Tarquin Holmes in the first instance.

Risk Assessments

In accordance with University policies on fieldwork and overseas travel  a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is required for all international travel on University business, as well as all fieldwork.  Click below to download the template.

Academic postholders: must complete the whole risk assessment if they are undertaking fieldwork, but need not complete it for low risk travel, because low level risk is managed through the online insurance system. 

Students and researchers: must always complete the first stage of the risk assessment for all travel, and must complete the whole risk assessment for fieldwork and/or medium or high risk travel, and in all cases this must be signed by their PI or Supervisor. 

A completed risk assessment must be uploaded to the insurance application prior to submission: your application cannot be progressed without it. Where travel includes any destination which is the subject of a Foreign and Commonwealth Office warning then referral will be needed to the insurers and the template must be submitted at least six weeks prior to planned departure in order for the Faculty to ensure that insurance cover can be obtained.  In all cases the Dean or her authorised deputy must authorise travel requests.

High Risk Travel

High risk travel is travel to countries / regions where the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have advised against all travel or all but essential travel, including any ‘red list’ countries.

The University Safety Office must review and advise on the suitability of risk assessments for high risk travel. The Faculty will review your risk asessment in the first instance and it will then go to the Safety Office for review and sign-off. This may involve requests for additional information and corrections so your timetable must allow at least two weeks from submission for the Safety Office to review and respond.

In addition to Safety Office sign-off, the Dean of the Law Faculty must approve high risk travel, which must be academically essential. Full details, including information on what constitutes academically essential travel, are provided in the International travel approval framework for HIGH RISK travel.

Ethics approval

If your research involves human participants, for example interviewing, participant observation, or archival research where the researcher can trace information back to an individual, you may need ethics approval before you undertake your fieldwork. Please refer to the further information about research ethics.