#UoRWay: Colleagues spend commute time travelling the globe

Members of the International Study & Language Institute (ISLI) have been seeing the world during their daily commute – virtually, of course.

ISLI colleagues have set themselves the challenge of completing a daily ‘commute’ – walking in their local area, up and down the stairs, or around the garden – during the time they would have spent getting to and from work.

The team then share their distances during weekly meetings, and their progress is mapped around the world.

Tracey McAuley, Executive Support Finance Administrator at ISLI, came up with the idea after the second lockdown was announced in November.

She said:

“In ISLI we have all stayed connected with planned weekly all-staff meetings, and have also held regular virtual social events, such as quizzes, cocktail-making sessions and cookery sessions.

“However, as we went into the second lockdown in November it felt like team morale suddenly deflated all over again. It made me wonder if there was anything else we could do to keep spirits up - something that would involve camaraderie and movement, and would create a sense of ‘being in this together'. So I came up with the ‘Let's get ISLI moving campaign'.

The team ‘left’ Whiteknights campus on 9 November, and have since collectively travelled more than 5,600 miles, stopping off at the NUIST Reading Academy in Nanjing, China, and are currently around 290 miles towards the University of Reading Malaysia campus.

Tracey said:

“It’s be come somewhat of a highlight of our weekly meeting. It has been really well-received with most colleagues getting involved every week, and as we find ourselves in the third lockdown, I hope that continuing on our journey will further help our collective wellbeing while keeping our ISLI community going.”

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