6. Insuring your expedition

If approved by the Oxford University Expeditions Council, members on an Oxford University Expedition are eligible to be covered by the University of Oxford’s travel insurance policy for the duration of the trip. Cover is reasonably priced, and offers substantial benefits in the event of claims such as medical emergencies, cancellation, loss/damage to baggage and death or injury. A 24-hour emergency helpline is also available for use by those covered in the event of a serious situation arising. The policy can be tailored to a certain extent to your expedition in order to make sure that the right people and sums insured are covered for the period you need. Full details of cover are available here.

To give you an indication of costs, the basic rate is £13 per person per month (or part of a month) per trip, which covers personal baggage up to £3000 per person (including any single personal electrical item such as a laptop up to £1500). If you have any especially expensive equipment (be it personal property, expedition property, or on loan from OUEC), you should raise this with the Insurance Office when you arrange the insurance.

Since expeditions vary so much in what sorts of risky things they do, where they go, how long they last, how many people are going on them, and in all sorts of other respects, expedition insurance is usually best arranged on an individual basis - that is, expedition by expedition.

The University Insurance Office is unlikely to be able to insure you if you are going somewhere that the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office regards as dangerous (see up to date advice), which is one of the reasons why the Expeditions Council will not approve expeditions going to such places.

When you know who exactly will be going on the expedition and the exact dates, the Expedition leader or treasurer should get in touch with the University’s Insurance Office to arrange an appointment to discuss and sort out your expedition’s insurance. Their website, with contact addresses, is here.

Be sure to have with you:

(a) proof that you are an approved Oxford University Expedition (the letter confirming this status),
(b) the names of everyone going on your expedition,
(c) the precise dates you’ll be leaving the UK and returning,
(d) the value (cost of replacement) of any expensive equipment owned or loaned by the expedition or by its members, and
(e) your expedition’s chequebook!

If you can e-mail the Insurance Office with the information in (b), (c) and (d) in advance, so much the better.

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When you are in the field, if anything does go wrong, then as well as ringing the Insurers’ emergency telephone number (+44 (0) 20 8763 3155), you should also inform the University Security Service on +44 (0)1865 289 999.