Health, Safety and Wellbeing at MMLL

Support within the Faculty

Disability Liaison Officer

The Faculty Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) offers a local contact for our students who may have questions and/or concerns about access to the Faculty, including taught sessions, assessment, library resources or any other area of our work. How can we help you?

We are happy to hear from undergraduate (including Year Abroad) or Postgraduate students regarding any issues regarding your physical or mental health, whether or not you have a Student Support Document (SSD), via disability@mmll.cam.ac.uk.

The role of our DLO is principally as a first point of contact who can either advise you directly or help you find to all of the sources of support that are available.

How to contact us

If you have queries or suggestions, you can email us at disability@mmll.cam.ac.uk in the first instance and we’ll get back to you as soon as we possibly can. All enquiries will be as confidential as you wish them to be. The address is monitored by both the DLO and the Secretary to the EDI Committee.

Recording policy

The Faculty endeavours to make lecture recordings available to all students with SSDs, and is working with academic staff to ensure recordings are in place to be made available.

Support within the University

The Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC)

https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/

The ADRC provides a confidential and accessible advice, information and guidance service for disabled students and University and College staff working with them. The ADRC’s aim is to increase access and attainment for disabled students through academic-related disability support and the application of the principles of inclusive design whilst also meeting the institution's duties to disabled students within the context of disability equality legislation.

The ADRC’s core remit is: to identify barriers to equitable learning opportunities for disabled students and make recommendations to remove the disadvantage faced by disabled students, as well as to promote and develop understanding of the principles of inclusive teaching and learning practice, and to work in collaboration with academic, support and professional services colleagues to put these principles into practice.

The University Counselling Service

https://www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/

Many personal decisions are made and problems solved through discussions with friends or family, a College Tutor or Director of Studies, a Nurse, Chaplain, or a GP. However, at times it is right to seek help away from one’s familiar daily environment. Seeking counselling is about making a positive choice to get help by talking confidentially with a professionally trained listener who has no other role in your life.

Counselling is a process that seeks to help you focus on and understand more clearly the issues that concern or trouble you. The counsellor's role is to offer support and understanding, and to listen and respond in a non-judgmental way. They will respect your values, choices and lifestyle. Counselling can help you explore your feelings and discover what lies behind whatever seems troubling or confusing. Counselling can also help with making decisions, choices or changes that are right for you.

The Service is staffed by a team of trained and accredited counsellors and therapists. They are all experienced in helping people from many different backgrounds and cultures, and with a wide range of personal and work issues. We have BAME counsellors and Sexual Harassment and Violence Advisers.

Some of the counsellors who work in the Service are Associates, in the late stages of their counselling training. Their work is carefully supervised within the Service.

Don't wait until a problem has grown very serious – the team would much rather you came when something is relatively minor, so that it can be resolved more quickly.

Other sources of support within the University

The College Porters' Lodge - you should have received the contact details when you started
Your College Welfare Team - this may include a counsellor if your College has one
College Nurse who may also be part of the College Welfare Team
College Tutorial Office - if you have a query about exam arrangements for example
Your College Tutor
Students' Unions' Advice Service
Student Wellbeing
Support for disabled students
Cambridge Student Union: Disabled Students’ Campaign

Accessing the Raised Faculty Building

Plan your visit using AccessAble.

Paper maps are available throughout the building, and you can also access these as PDFs: RFB Floor 1 map RFB Floor 2 map RFB Floor 3 map

Health and Safety policy

Please see the University Health and Safety Policy on the University Safety Office website (last updated Jan 2022).

See also the latest guidance, advice and policies on how to manage communicable diseases, including Covid-19.

Accident reporting and first aid

You can report an accident online using AssessNet. Please follow the link for instructions (you need a Raven login). Please note the same process would apply to any student involved in an accident on our premises.

The system will alert the relevant people who will follow the review and risk assessment process. Full guides are found on the AssessNet site.

If First Aid is required, please contact the Facilities Team who are first aid-trained. Tel: 01223 335013.

Fire alarms and evacuation

The fire alarm is one long, continuous bell. If you hear this please leave the building by the nearest exit and congregate in the car park away from the building. There is a Fire Assembly point sign to go to. Please do not block the entrance as it will be needed by the fire and rescue service for their access. Please stay at this location until wardens confirm it is safe for you to re-enter the building.

Several of our staff members are Fire Wardens and will provide assistance if needed. Please also see our Fire Safety Procedure document (.docx, 17KB).

Fire Wardens may assist and direct evacuation - your co-operation is appreciated.

If you would require assistance to leave the building in an evacuation, please email disability@mmll.cam.ac.uk to arrange for a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) to be created for you.

Harassment, Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct

The Faculty is committed to supporting and sustaining a diverse community, and to avoiding prejudice based on race, gender, sexuality, class or religion. In these pages you can find out about what we are doing to ensure that all students, staff and visitors feel equally welcome.

The University has an active Equality and Diversity unit that provides a wealth of further information, resources and contacts.

Mentoring and Career Development

The Senior Academic Promotions CV Scheme aims to encourage more female academics to apply for promotion within the University with the goal of addressing the under-representation of women academics in senior positions.

Postdoctoral research students (PDRs):

The University of Cambridge is signed up to the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers– an agreement between funders and employers to support research careers.

You will find useful information on the webpages of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPdA) that exists to provide support for the postdoctoral research community.

Please note their Researcher Development Programme (RDP) that provides development opportunities tailored specifically to postdoctoral researchers and research staff.