LSE has a duty of care to all staff and students who travel overseas on School business or educational purposes. This includes fieldwork, arranging and attending conferences abroad, presenting papers, arranging and attending meetings etc.
The School has a tiered approach to travel risk assessment. This is based on several risk factors, including Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advice, insurance country risk ratings, duration of travel and an assessment of the planned activities in country. Approvals for travel are based on the risk factors.
The School also provides comprehensive travel insurance for educational travel and travel on School business lasting up to 12 months. It does not cover private holidays nor travel where the work could be done equally in the UK.
In order to obtain insurance cover and approval to travel all travellers must complete the Travel Notification Form. The Health and Safety team will then advise if risk assessments and training are required.
Please see the Travel risk assessment and approval page for more information on the approval process.
If you are planning overseas research travel, submitting finding applications, or applying for a PhD at LSE and intend on travelling to higher risk destinations, you will need to consider the following:
- If the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all but essential travel or against all travel to a destination, there may be restrictions on the assistance which can be provided.
- There may be an additional insurance cost (premium) for travel to extreme risk destination or for travel over 18 months. This is calculated by the insurers once they have all the details of a proposed trip and there is a new charge for every trip. LSE may not cover this cost centrally. Departments, Institutes and Research Centres will need to consider how to cover these costs.
- It may take several weeks for your risk assessment to be approved; you should factor this into your plans. You may also be required to complete travel safety training and courses need to be booked at least four months before travel. Course details and how they can be booked can be found on our training and support page.
- At application stage, the Health and Safety Team are unable to predict the outcome of the approval process in advance. It is advisable to have a “Plan B”, or alternative topic/country/methodology in case the School does not accept the risk of the proposed research.
- Please note that approval to travel can be withdrawn if the safety and security situation deteriorates in the country or area you are planning to visit. If you are in the country you may be advised to leave.
Further information is also available on our Travel approval process and risk assessment pages.
If you are returning to your home country to carry out research, you will still be asked to complete a risk assessment, particularly if your home country is under a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advisory or is identified as higher risk by the School’s insurers.
Please contact the Health and Safety Team to discuss this further.