Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This accessibility statement applies to:
This website is run by the School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this application. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Change colours, contrast levels and fonts.
- Zoom in up to 500% without the text spilling off the screen.
- Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.
- Listen to most of the application using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).
- Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software (including Dragon NaturallySpeaking).
- Use the website without encountering any time limits.
- Use the website without encountering a cognitive function test.
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording, we could use without changing what the text means.
Customising the website
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:
AbilityNet - My Computer My Way
With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:
Additional information on how to customise our website appearance
If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:
How accessible this website is:
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Some redundant links are present on the website.
- Not all links are meaningful hypertext
- There are links to PDF documents, these do not meet accessibility standards.
- Some parts of the website may not be fully compatible with screen readers.
- Some links may open in a new tab without notice.
- Some tooltips are missing, and those present are not accessible to keyboard navigation or all assistive technologies.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:
- Email: Biology.Web@ed.ac.uk
- Telephone: + 44 (0)131 650 5737
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are 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:
- Email: Biology.Web@ed.ac.uk
- Telephone: + 44 (0)131 650 5737
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:
Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)
The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:
Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website
Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language
Contact Scotland BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8.00am to 12.00am, 7 days a week.
Contact Scotland BSL service details.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance Status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard
Non accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations
The following items do not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:
- Not all Portable Document Files (PDF) and Word documents meet accessibility standards.
- Tooltips are not accessible to keyboard navigation and all assistive technology
- There is moving content that cannot be paused by the end user
- There are some occurrences of badly formatted links, without meaningful hypertext, e.g., have the full web address, rather than formatted link text.
- Some links open new tabs when the user interacts with an item, without the user being alerted.
- Not all content may be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility.
We are working towards solving these problems and expect significant improvements by August 2026. The site is fully within our control.
Disproportionate burden
We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
At this time, we believe no content is outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to address and make adequate improvements to the accessibility issues highlighted. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place by August 2026.
We use the Drupal CMS (Content Management System) to manage this website, together with the most accessible template available for the CMS.
Drupal accessibility standards
In addition to the accessible template, we have added modules and customisation to the Drupal CMS to improve accessibility. This is an ongoing project with continuous updates from Drupal, which we will deploy together with custom elements, to improve the website accessibility.
We will discourage the addition of any PDF documents, and, should any be added, they must meet accessibility standards.
We encourage all website editors to attend training, provided by the University of Edinburgh, to ensure they create accessible content.
While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 21st of August 2025. It was last reviewed on 21st of August 2025.
The website was last tested on 20th August 2025. The testing was carried out by the School of Biological Sciences web team, at the University of Edinburgh using both automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using Microsoft Edge alongside Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:
WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey
The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.
We ran automated testing using WAVE WebAIM and AXE and then manual testing that included:
- Spell check functionality;
- Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
- Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
- Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
- Data validation;
- Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
- Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
- Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
- Operability if JavaScript is disabled;
- Use with screen reading software (for example JAWS);
- Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
- Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
- Time limits;
- Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS).