Faculty supervising undergraduate students conducting fieldwork away from the Yale campus should provide guidance to undergraduates so they can benefit as much as possible from their work. For more information, guidelines, and registration forms for fieldwork involving overnight stays, see Overnight Travel with Undergraduates.

Undergraduate fieldwork is subject to the Yale College Travel Policy; therefore, faculty and students should select locations accordingly.

The following requirements are designed to help faculty plan for and supervise undergraduates doing fieldwork. 

1. No student should be sent into the field unless someone on the research team (faculty member or postdoc) has first visited the site, evaluated it, and developed an Emergency Response Plan and Field Safety Plan. This should include a review of the fieldwork area, accommodations, and transportation at the site. Refer to Yale’s Field Safety Handbook for guidance.

2. All fieldwork must adhere to the requirements or restrictions imposed by the provost or provost’s designee, the department or school, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), and where appropriate, other compliance units, such as the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and HIPAA.

3. Faculty must ensure local regulations and permit requirements are followed.

4. The following information must be reviewed with the student as part of an overall pre-departure operation:

   1. ​Location of fieldwork

   2. Time commitment (hours per week, number of weeks, specific dates)

   3. Field Safety Plan including:

      1. Physical demands of the work and proper training to lessen the chance of injury, and any personal protective equipment or other safety tools and instructions they may need
      2. Information on special risks associated with the site and how to manage those risks
      3. Communication means and methods while in the field
      4. Main contact and contact information while in the field
      5. Campus contact and contact information
   4. Emergency Response Plan including:
      1. ​Information on the University's ISOS Global Assistance program
      2. Details of the emergency plan (predetermined meeting place, means of communication, and evacuation plan)
      3. The pre-departure checklist available in the International Toolkit and a trip-specific packing list. The DUS should receive a copy of the checklist from the student, indicating that each step has been completed.
5. If students will be driving while in the field, they must take the university training, be properly licensed in the country where they are located, and review the University Fleet Policy. 

6. If a student plans to attend an external field school, the DUS in the home department must approve the school as having provided the information required by these guidelines. If, for example, the external field school does not provide a pre-departure plan or a packing list, the student should request such from the external field school for approval by the DUS. 

7. Students working with external PIs should ask that the PI fill out some type of external pre-departure form.

8. Students should be reminded to register their travel prior to departure and to review the country-specific information on the ISOS member center. 

9. No student should be alone in the field for more than a 12-hour period. Often students are dispersed during the day in different parts of the field. It is preferable that they operate in teams, but if they must work alone, there should be established plans for communication and specific contingency plans in place in the event of emergency.

Fieldwork for Students Requiring Accommodations

If a student needs accommodations for fieldwork, they should connect with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) early in the process of identifying a field placement by requesting accommodations to discuss their needs on a case-by-case basis.

If accommodations are approved, SAS will provide students with their accommodation letters with a cc to their residential college dean’s office. Students are responsible for providing their accommodation letters to their program and faculty or Principal Investigators (PIs) associated with their fieldwork to notify them of their accommodations. If indicated, SAS will connect with faculty/PIs to discuss how accommodations may be coordinated in the specific fieldwork placement.

It is important to note that not all accommodations may be possible or appropriate in fieldwork placements, and accommodations cannot fundamentally alter a required component of the fieldwork.