Isambard Global Visiting Professorships: Guidance for Faculties and Schools

Eligibility

Although the scheme is externally visible, all prospective incoming Visiting Professors must have senior academic sponsorship from a host School and Faculty.

To be eligible, the following criteria must be met:

• The individual must hold a substantive professorial post at their home institution, or a notable leadership role within industry.
• There must be an evidenced track record of world-leading research in artificial intelligence (AI) or closely related technology fields, or significant contributions to the application or exploration of AI in a commercial or industry context.

Cost distribution

Related costs for a visiting professorship via the scheme will be picked up by the host school, however external funding could be sought to cover some or all of these costs.

Establishing Sponsorship Support

Each prospective Visiting Professor must have a named host academic within the hosting School and the support of both the Head of School and the Faculty PVC (Pro Vice-Chancellor).

A Sponsorship Committee will convene to ratify each proposed Visiting Professor. The committee will comprise:

• The Faculty PVC
• A minimum of one thematic PVC
• A minimum of one relevant Faculty APVC
• The hosting Head of School

If sponsorship is approved, the decision must be reported to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) for scheme oversight.

In instances where any standard committee member is the proposed host or primary sponsor, a replacement committee member should be appointed.

Managing Scheme Communications

External expressions of interest should be directed to: uob-isambardgvp@bristol.ac.uk

This mailbox is monitored by the Resourcing Business Partner (RBP) for each Faculty.

Where potential Visiting Professors have been identified internally, the relevant RBP should be informed as early as possible to support the management of communications and any procedural or HR-related queries via the above email address.

Please direct all internal communications related to the scheme to this mailbox to ensure appropriate HR support is provided.

Financial Support

Visiting Professors will be supported for the duration of their visit to Bristol. Financial support may include:

• Travel costs to and from the UK
• Visa costs
• Accommodation
• Agreed research-related activity costs (case by case)
• Other reasonable expenses incurred in connection with activities linked to the professorship

For longer visits, it is anticipated that visitors may wish to bring immediate family members. In such cases, travel and visa costs for dependants may also be covered at the discretion of the host School, considered on a case-by-case basis.

Engaging Visiting Professors in Discrete Work

Visiting Professors hold honorary status and are not employees of the University.

In some cases, however, a visiting appointment may involve being asked to undertake specific, discrete pieces of work.
If this applies, Schools must first engage with their Resourcing Business Partner, as this may affect visa requirements.

Please note that there are restrictions on when such work can be carried out during a visit to the UK.

Host School and Sponsor Responsibilities

Host Schools are responsible for:

• Convening the Sponsorship Committee
• Communicating with incoming Visiting Professors on all non-procedural matters
• Inducting Visiting Professors into the School and wider academic community
• Requesting honorary records to grant access to University systems and infrastructure via the Honorary and Associate process
• Curating a programme of academic and engagement activities for the duration of the visit
• Submitting expense claims and/or arranging subsistence allowances

HR Responsibilities

HR is responsible for supporting the procedural aspects of the scheme, including:

• Managing and screening external, non-sponsored expressions of interest and disseminating these to appropriate School contacts where relevant
• Providing advice and support on all visa-related communications and queries for identified prospects and incoming Visiting Professors
• Identifying suitable accommodation options for incoming visitors
• Establishing appropriate payment mechanisms for subsistence allowances and any discrete engagements involving payment