Accessibility statement for the ROS Theses Repository

Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This accessibility statement applies to: https://ros.hw.ac.uk/

This website is run by the Library and University Collections Directorate, Information Services Group at the 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 most colours and contrast levels
  • Navigate most of the site using voice recognition software e.g. Dragon
  • Magnify the content to 400% without text spilling of the side of the screen
  • Use the site without encountering any scrolling, flashing or moving text

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:

SenusAccess Information

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • It is not possible to keyboard navigate to all content
  • Keyboard navigation is not displayed consistently on all browsers and it can be hard to tell where you have tabbed to
  • The skip to main content function is not visible
  • The website is not fully compatible with assistive technologies such as screen readers and voice recognition software
  • There are pop ups that open without warning
  • There are pop-ups that obscure or render other content inaccessible
  • There are some instances where colour contrast does not meet the WCAG 2.2 AA standard
  • There are some interactions that do not have alternatives to dragging movements
  • Text is displayed over an image
  • There are time limits that cannot be extended

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: Information.systems@ed.ac.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)131 651 5151

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: Information.systems@ed.ac.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)131 651 5151

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 Telephone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

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 to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:

  1. Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text. e.g. certain ARIA roles are not contained by particular parents and some ARIA roles do not contain specific children.
  2. There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours for data validation.
  3. Not all content can be reached and interacted with by keyboard alone.
  4. Keyboard focus encounters a keyboard trap on Mozilla Firefox and while using JAWS and Dragon Naturally Speaking on Mozilla Firefox.
  5. There are time limits which cannot be extended e.g. there are pop ups where it is not possible to pause, stop, or adjust the time it is presented for.
  6. Although a skip to main content option is present this is only accessible for screen reader users as the visual presentation is blocked by other content on the page.
  7. It is not always clear where you have navigated to using the keyboard.
  8. There is content that requires a dragging movement for which there is no keyboard alternative.
  9. Pop ups open without warning the user this will happen.
  10. Error suggestions or corrections are not always displayed.
  11. Screen readers are not able to identify some parts of the page e.g. Form elements do not always have labels, buttons do not always have discernible text, some interactive controls are nested, not all ARIA attributes conform to valid values.

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 July 2025. 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 is not within the Scope of the Accessibility Regulations

At this time, we do not believe that any content is outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We will continue to address and make significant improvements to the accessibility issues highlighted. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place by July 2026.

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 September 2021. It was last reviewed on 03rd July 2025.

The website was last tested on 26th June 2025. The testing was carried out by Library and University Collections, Information Services Group 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 AXE Devtools 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;
  • Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
  • Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
  • Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
  • 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);
  • Any drag functionality and alternatives;
  • Consistent help function;.
  • Submission and re-entry of data;
  • Any cognitive tests.

Change Log

  1. A ‘skip to main content’ option has been added that is audible to users of assistive software but is not visually apparent as it is blocked by other content so this later aspect needs to be resolved to fully meet the criteria.
  2. All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose.
  3. All the content reflows when the page is magnified above 200%.
  4. There are no missing heading levels.
  5. There are no missing labels present in the website so fail to describe the purpose of the input form.