Accessibility statement

The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. Our Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.

    This accessibility statement applies to the University of Oxford, Africa Oxford Initiative -  https://afox.ox.ac.uk

    This website is run by the Africa Oxford Initiative Communications team. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

    • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
    • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
    • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
    • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
    • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

    We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

    AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

    How accessible this website is

    We are aware that some parts of our website are not fully accessible. These include:

    • Links and text in highlighted boxes do not have enough contrast against the background colour.
    • Not all images have a meaningful text alternative.
    • Some images include text as part of the image.
    • Some images behave differently with some enlarging when clicked on while others do not.
    • Not all page titles are unique or clearly indicate the page’s topic or purpose
    • Some link text isn’t meaningful out of context
    • Links have different actions i.e. some links to external sites open in a new browser window while other links open in the same browser window.
    • Some audio content is not accompanied by an audio description or text alternative
    • Some video content does not have fully synchronised captions, although numerous   podcasts have a transcript.
    • Some video or animation content may contain content that flashes more than three times a second
    • When CSS styling is removed from some pages, the content may not be in logical order
    • When CSS styling is removed from some pages, dynamic content may lose some of the functionality
    • Some pages use shape, size, colour, or location to communicate instructions or information
    • Older Word and PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

    We are working to address areas where our accessibility needs improvement. Please see our ‘Known issues’ page for more details.

    Feedback and Contact Information

    If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact Chimwemwe Manyozo, Communications Officer at the Africa Oxford Initiative:

    Email: Chimwemwe.manyozo@ndm.ox.ac.uk  

    Post: The Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research
    South Parks Road. Oxford. OX1 3SY

    We will consider your request and get back to you within 14 days. In case you receive an out-of-office message, please email afox@ndm.ox.ac.uk

    Reporting accessibility problems with this website

    We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact Chimwemwe Manyozo:

    Email: Chimwemwe.manyozo@ndm.ox.ac.uk 

    Post: The Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research
    South Parks Road. Oxford. OX1 3SY

    We will consider your request and get back to you within 14 days. In case you receive an out-of-office message, please email afox@ndm.ox.ac.uk

    Other accessibility resources

    If you’d like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages. 

    If you’re looking for information on building accessibility, please try the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.

    Enforcement procedure

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

    Technical information about this website’s accessibility

    The Africa Oxford Initiative, University of Oxford is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

    This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance and exemptions listed on our ‘Known Issues section’. 

    What we’re doing to improve accessibility

    We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this we will:

    • Fix known issues
    • Check all new features in the Drupal Content Management System (CMS), which is used to create this website, for accessibility before they are made available
    • Train all content editors on accessibility
    • Check all new content on the Africa Oxford Initiative site for accessibility
    • Carry out periodic accessibility checks

    Preparation of this accessibility statement

    This statement was prepared on 11 October 2022.

    This website was last tested in September 2022. The test was carried out by Africa Oxford Initiative communications team using a carefully chosen sample of pages and content types. The CMS has been audited for accessibility by the suppliers and the Africa Oxford Initiative communications team.

    This approach was used to determine the sample pages to be tested.

    The pages were checked manually using a combination of the following methods: