diff --git a/hypha/apply/activity/context_processors.py b/hypha/apply/activity/context_processors.py
index 6f94d6b9346ae288ed61d56abe7ee857f7c0195a..0a9a62168a8a8a6c96be2c8c54a01a98cf63d085 100644
--- a/hypha/apply/activity/context_processors.py
+++ b/hypha/apply/activity/context_processors.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from .models import Activity
 
 def notification_context(request):
     context_data = dict()
-    if request.user.is_authenticated and request.user.is_apply_staff:
-        context_data['latest_notifications'] = Activity.objects.all().order_by('-timestamp')[:5]
+    if hasattr(request, 'user'):
+        if request.user.is_authenticated and request.user.is_apply_staff:
+            context_data['latest_notifications'] = Activity.objects.all().order_by('-timestamp')[:5]
     return context_data
diff --git a/hypha/static_src/src/javascript/apply/notifications.js b/hypha/static_src/src/javascript/apply/notifications.js
index 43e3de5143a943e3b449b3b212bf57384bf7d9c2..f3e619abdca50ae927468c0848652fcf564eaebe 100644
--- a/hypha/static_src/src/javascript/apply/notifications.js
+++ b/hypha/static_src/src/javascript/apply/notifications.js
@@ -1,17 +1,19 @@
 function notificationToggle() {
-  document.getElementById("notificationDropdown").classList.toggle("show");
+    'use strict';
+    document.getElementById('notificationDropdown').classList.toggle('show');
 }
 
 // Close the dropdown menu if the user clicks outside of it
-window.onclick = function(event) {
-  if (!event.target.matches('.dropbtn, .dropbtn *')) {
-    var dropdowns = document.getElementsByClassName("dropdown-content");
-    var i;
-    for (i = 0; i < dropdowns.length; i++) {
-      var openDropdown = dropdowns[i];
-      if (openDropdown.classList.contains('show')) {
-        openDropdown.classList.remove('show');
-      }
+window.onclick = function (event) {
+    'use strict';
+    if (!event.target.matches('.dropbtn, .dropbtn *')) {
+        var dropdowns = document.getElementsByClassName('dropdown-content');
+        var i;
+        for (i = 0; i < dropdowns.length; i++) {
+            var openDropdown = dropdowns[i];
+            if (openDropdown.classList.contains('show')) {
+                notificationToggle();
+            }
+        }
     }
-  }
-}
+};