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Hello
I have a PhD student on my caseload whose research is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC). I am her Disability Adviser and also Needs Assessor for DSA purposes.
The student has a mobility impairment and limited functioning of her right hand. She is entering the 2nd year of her PhD and to date has had taxis funded by DSA (MRC's DSA scheme) between her home address and the University campus.
Occasionally - once or twice a year - there are conferences for her to attend. These conferences are normally abroad and challenge my usual needs assessment approach given the lack of concrete information in advance for the MRC eg lack of information about venues, transport available to/from the venue from airports/train stations, travel costs, etc etc. The MRC have said:
" Please can you provide a business case of what events she would be looking to attend, the reasons for attending, what support she would need and what this would cost. It would also be useful to know what support Glasgow will provide for this."
This is fine and reasonable in principle but specific costs such as taxis in cities abroad cannot be easily sourced.
I wondered if any of you had worked with a student in similar circumstances and if you would be willing to speak to me about your experience? Any advice and information would be gratefully received.
Thanks in advance.
Kind regards
Julie
Julie Summers
Disability Adviser
Disability Service
University of Glasgow
Direct line: 0141 330 2270
Main office: 0141 330 5497
www.gla.ac.uk/disability
