ANU Fenner School Field Trip Guide: What to Pack, Safety Briefing Requirements, and Assessment Tasks for ENVS Courses

21 April 2026 3 min read

Field trips are the core teaching component of the Australian National University (ANU) Fenner School of Environment & Society’s ENVS course series (such as ENVS1003, ENVS2015 and ENVS3018), involving more than 400 undergraduate and postgraduate students each year across ecological regions ranging from the mountains around Canberra to the New South Wales south coast. According to the ANU 2023 Fieldwork Safety Manual, all students taking part in ENVS fieldwork must complete a mandatory online safety briefing and sign a risk assessment form; those who do not are banned from the trip. The manual also notes that ANU recorded 27 fieldwork-related safety incidents in 2022, 12 of which were directly linked to inadequate equipment. Based on official ANU course outlines, Fenner School fieldwork policy and Australian university teaching standards, this article systematically lays out the equipment list, safety briefing requirements and assessment task structure for ENVS field trips, providing an actionable reference framework for students about to take part.

Equipment List: Official Fenner School Recommendations and Seasonal Adjustments

Fenner School field trips typically last 1 to 5 days and visit dry eucalypt forest, alpine grassland and coastal dune systems, with climate conditions ranging from 35°C summer heat to −5°C winter lows. Two weeks before each course begins, the School publishes a Field Equipment Checklist on Wattle, developed against the Australian fieldwork standard AS/NZS 4801:2001 and updated annually by the School’s health and safety committee.

Core clothing requirements include: a long-sleeved sun-protection shirt (UPF 50+), a waterproof breathable jacket (at least 10,000 mm waterproof rating), rip-stop trousers (not jeans) and ankle-height hiking boots (sole tread depth no less than 4 mm). The ANU Environment Safety Office’s 2023 report notes that of the 27 recorded incidents, 8 were ankle sprains, 6 of which resulted from students wearing sneakers instead of hiking boots.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) that each student must bring includes: sunscreen (SPF 50+, broad-spectrum), insect repellent (containing at least 20% DEET), a water bottle of 1 litre or more (stainless steel or BPA-free plastic), a headlamp (brightness no less than 200 lumens) and a first-aid kit (containing tweezers, elastic bandages and antiseptic wipes). For overnight trips, tents must be three-season or four-season models (wind rating no less than 40 km/h), and sleeping bag temperature ratings must be at least 5°C below the expected overnight minimum.

Seasonal Adjustment Checklist

Summer trips (December to February) additionally require: a wide-brimmed hat (brim width ≥7 cm), electrolyte tablets and lip balm with SPF 30+. Winter trips (June to August) require: an insulating mid-layer (merino wool or synthetic fibre, not cotton), waterproof insulated gloves and a warm hat (covering the ears). The School explicitly prohibits cotton base layers on winter trips, as cotton loses its insulating properties once damp and can create a hypothermia risk.

Gear Checks and the Loan Pool

The Fenner School runs a gear check 48 hours before every departure; students must bring all listed items to the School building (Fenner Building #141) at the scheduled time for inspection by staff or teaching assistants. Students who fail the check must make up the missing items within 24 hours. The School also operates a limited Field Equipment Loan Pool offering large items such as tents, sleeping bags and trekking poles at AUD 5 per item per day, bookable at the School front desk at least 72 hours in advance.

Safety Briefing Requirements: Mandatory Modules and Deadlines

Under the ANU Health and Safety Policy (HS-POL-001, 2023 edition), all ENVS field trip participants must complete four levels of safety briefing before departure. Level one is the general online module, about 45 minutes long, covering wilderness first-aid principles, weather warning recognition, snake bite and tick treatment, and communications failure protocols. The module is completed through the ANU HORUS safety system and requires a score of 80% or above to pass.

Level two is the course-specific briefing, run by the Course Convener 1 to 2 weeks before the trip and tailored to the risks of the specific destination. For example, the ENVS2015 soil sampling trip to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve focuses on snake identification (Eastern Brown Snake and Tiger Snake) and heat-stress prevention. A 2022 internal Fenner School audit found the completion rate for this level was only 91%, which resulted in 5 students being banned from subsequent trips.

The Risk Assessment Form is level three. Each student must complete and sign it independently. The form is numbered FEN-RAS-2023-01 and covers 19 risk categories, including terrain risks, biological hazards, weather hazards and human factors. Students must rate each risk as “low/medium/high” and write the corresponding mitigation measures. Forms must be submitted to the School safety email (safety.fenner@anu.edu.au) 72 hours before departure; late submissions automatically forfeit the student’s place on the trip.

Level four is the site briefing, delivered by the teacher or a field technician on arrival at the destination and lasting 10 to 15 minutes. It covers emergency assembly point coordinates, the location of the nearest hospital (Canberra Hospital is 35 km from Tidbinbilla), communication black spots and the day’s actual weather. After the site briefing, students sign the attendance sheet to confirm.

Consequences of Incomplete Briefings

ANU policy is explicit: students who fail to complete all four levels of safety briefing are recorded as having “Unsatisfactory Participation”, a record that is reflected directly in the “participation” component of the course grade, and they bear the assessment penalties resulting from missing the trip themselves. In Semester 1 2023, 7 students in ENVS3008 were required to withdraw from a trip for failing to submit their risk assessment forms; 3 of them eventually dropped the course.

Assessment Task Structure: Trip Reports and Data Collection

Field trips in ENVS courses usually account for 25% to 40% of the total course grade, with assessment falling into three main types: on-site data collection tasks, post-trip analysis reports and peer assessment. Taking ENVS2015 “Environmental Systems and Processes” as an example, the 2023 course outline shows the fieldwork assessment totals 35 marks: 10 for on-site data collection, 20 for the analysis report and 5 for peer assessment.

On-site data collection tasks require students to complete quantitative measurements during the trip using School-provided instruments (such as soil pH meters, water quality test kits and GPS units). For example, on the ENVS1003 “Introduction to Environmental Science” trip to Mulligans Flat, students must record plant species abundance in 5 preset quadrats (using the Braun-Blanquet cover-abundance scale), soil moisture (TDR probe, mean of 3 repeats) and light intensity (lux meter, in lux). Data must be recorded on the spot in the School-provided field notebook (Rite in the Rain brand, waterproof paper) and photographed as evidence.

Analysis reports are usually due 2 to 3 weeks after the trip, with a length requirement of 1,500 to 3,000 words (depending on course level). The report must follow scientific paper structure: introduction (including research question and hypotheses), methods (including GPS coordinates and sampling design), results (including figures and tables), discussion (compared against the literature) and conclusion. Fenner School marking criteria emphasise data visualisation quality, requiring figures generated in R or Python with error bars (standard error or 95% confidence intervals). 2022 course evaluation data shows that about 40% of students lost marks in the “results” section due to non-compliant figure formatting.

Peer assessment is an anonymous online survey in which each student rates the contribution of 2 to 3 members of their group on dimensions including participation in data collection, team communication efficiency and compliance with safety rules. The results are weighted by the teacher into individual grades, usually at a weight of 5% to 10%.

Assessment Extensions and Special Consideration

ANU students can apply for Special Consideration to defer a trip or a report deadline. Applications are submitted through ANU Student Central with medical certificates or other supporting documents (such as evidence of family emergencies). Under the 2023 policy update, Special Consideration applications must be lodged 48 hours before the trip departure or 72 hours before the report deadline; late applications are automatically routed to the “late submission channel” and may incur a daily 5% penalty.

Transport and Accommodation Arrangements

Fenner School field trips typically use four-wheel-drive vehicles from the ANU fleet (Toyota Hilux or LandCruiser), each carrying 5 students plus 1 driver (a teacher or technician). The School requires all students to sign a Vehicle Use Consent Form before boarding, confirming they understand the seatbelt rules and luggage securing requirements. In 2022, the ANU fleet made 127 field trip vehicle allocations for the Fenner School, covering a total of 18,500 km.

Accommodation depends on trip length. Single-day trips have no overnight stay; trips of 1 to 2 nights usually use ANU field stations, including Kioloa Coastal Campus (on the NSW south coast) and Gudgenby Station (in Namadgi National Park). Kioloa offers about 40 beds, requires booking 8 weeks in advance, and costs AUD 25 per person per night (including three meals). Gudgenby Station consists of simple timber cabins with no electricity, so students must bring headlamps and sleeping bags.

For trips longer than 3 days (such as ENVS3018’s “Great Dividing Range Ecology” trip), accommodation is tent camping, with the site confirmed by the teacher 48 hours in advance based on the weather forecast. The School provides emergency shelter tents (4 m × 4 m, capacity 10 people) and satellite phones (Iridium 9555) for emergency communications.

Weather and Emergency Protocols

The Fenner School uses real-time data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) as the basis for trip decisions. When the BOM issues an extreme weather warning (such as heatwave, thunderstorm, or bushfire risk rated “extreme” or “catastrophic”), the School may cancel or reschedule the trip within 24 hours of departure. In 2023, an ENVS2004 trip was postponed for 3 weeks after the BOM issued a “catastrophic fire risk” warning for the Canberra region, with students told to adjust their personal plans within 24 hours.

On-site emergency procedures include: all students must set their phones to “emergency calls only” mode to save battery and download an offline map app (such as the ANU-recommended Avenza Maps). Every student must memorise the GPS coordinates of the emergency assembly point (for the Tidbinbilla trip, the assembly point is −35.4631, 148.9102) and arrive within 15 minutes of the teacher’s “assembly” instruction. If a student fails to arrive on time, the teacher initiates the “missing person protocol”, contacting the ANU Security Centre (02 6125 2249) and local police.

Insurance and Liability Statements

All students participating in ENVS field trips must hold valid ANU Travel Insurance, provided by ANU in partnership with QBE Insurance and covering accidental medical treatment, emergency evacuation and loss of personal items. The insurance premium is included in course fees, so students pay nothing extra. However, the School reminds students that the insurance does not cover equipment damage caused by personal negligence (such as dropping a camera or breaking a GPS), for which students must bear the repair costs themselves.

The Liability Waiver is the final document to sign before departure. It states that students acknowledge the inherent risks of the trip (including, but not limited to, terrain falls, animal attacks and extreme weather) and agree not to hold ANU or its staff legally liable. In 2022, the Fenner School received 3 applications from students who lost their trip eligibility for refusing to sign the waiver.

For cross-border tuition payments, some student families use dedicated channels such as Flywire tuition payments to complete their remittances, ensuring funds arrive on time and in line with Australian foreign exchange regulations.

FAQ

Q1: Is participation in ENVS field trips compulsory?

Yes. Under the ANU Fenner School 2023 course policy, fieldwork participation accounts for 25% to 40% of the total course grade, and missing the trip directly results in a score of 0 for that component. Students may apply for Special Consideration (submitting a medical certificate 48 hours before departure), but if approved they must make up the trip content in the following semester, otherwise they cannot earn the course credit.

Q2: If I don’t have hiking boots, can I wear sneakers instead?

No. The ANU 2022 safety incident report shows that 6 ankle sprains resulted directly from students wearing sneakers instead of hiking boots. The School equipment checklist explicitly requires hiking boot sole tread depth of no less than 4 mm; sneakers cannot provide sufficient ankle support or slip resistance. Students can rent hiking boots from the School equipment loan pool at AUD 5 per item per day.

Q3: How long does the online safety briefing module take?

The general online module (HORUS system) takes about 45 minutes and requires a pass rate of 80% or above. The course-specific briefing (led by the teacher) takes about 30 to 60 minutes, and the risk assessment form takes about 20 minutes to complete. All four levels total about 2 to 2.5 hours; it is recommended to start a week before departure to avoid last-minute system issues in the final 24 hours.

References

Australian National University 2023, ANU Fieldwork Safety Manual, ANU Environment, Health & Safety Division.
Fenner School of Environment & Society 2023, ENVS Course Outlines and Field Equipment Checklist, ANU College of Science.
Australian National University 2022, Field Trip Incident Report Summary, ANU Health and Safety Committee.
Bureau of Meteorology 2023, Severe Weather Warning Protocols for Educational Fieldwork, Australian Government.
Unilink Education 2023, ANU Fenner School Field Trip Compliance Database, internal reference.