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IntroductionUK universities re-opened in September 2020, despite the on-going coronavirus epidemic. During the first term, various national social distancing measures were introduced, including banning groups of> 6 people and the second lockdown in November. COVID-19 can spread rapidly in university-settings, and students adherence to social distancing measures is critical for controlling transmission. MethodsWe measured university staff and student contact patterns via an online, longitudinal survey capturing self-reported contacts on the previous day. We investigated the change in contacts associated with COVID-19 guidance periods post-first lockdown (23/06/2020-03/07/2020), relaxed guidance period (04/07/2020-13/09/2020)," rule-of-six" period (14/09/2020-04/11/2020), and the second lockdown (05/11/2020-25/11/2020). Results722 staff (4199 responses)(mean household size 2.6) and 738 students (1906 responses)(mean household size 4.5) were included in the study. Contact number decreased with age. Staff in single-person households reported fewer contacts than individuals in 2-and 3-person households, and individuals in 4-and 5-person households reported more contacts. For staff, daily contacts were higher in the relaxed guidance and" rule-of-six" periods (means 3.2 and 3.5, respectively; medians 3) than the post-first lockdown and second lockdown periods (means 4.5 and 5.4, respectively; medians 2). Few students responded until 05/10/2020, after which the median student contacts was 2 and the mean was 5.7, until the second lockdown when it dropped to 3.1. DiscussionUniversity staff and students responded to …