Guidelines and Conditions

Introduction & Summary

Outside researchers with a national or international reputation offer an important channel for injecting new ideas and energy into research and research training and augmenting the University’s outreach activities. This program of grants-in-aid helps such leading researchers come into the University for between a few days and a few weeks to share their skills, ideas and experience with University of Canberra (UC) researchers. The program supports Visiting Research Scholars where it can be demonstrated that benefits will flow to a significant number of staff and/or research students.

It is emphasised that the support is in the form of a grant-in-aid. The grant will not necessarily meet all the costs associated with a visit. 

Objectives of the Program

• To foster collaboration between UC researchers and research partners in Australia and overseas
• To foster research culture across the University and provide stimulus to research and research training.

Expectations from the Visit

Visiting Research Scholars are leading researchers who are expected to give research leadership and stimulation to a group of UC researchers and students through interacting extensively and intensively with them and, depending on the duration of the visit, with research programs and projects within the University. This should entail

• presentation of seminars and /or workshops at the University
• consultation and advice
• informal interaction with staff, research students and their supervisors
• at least in the case of longer visits, collaborative research including joint authorship of papers. 

The visit should be aimed at cultivating ongoing interaction/collaboration with the Visiting Scholar.

Duration & Nature of Visits

A visit can be of any duration between 1 day and 6 weeks.  (Visits of longer than 6 weeks will qualify only for the maximum amount of funding corresponding to a six-week visit.) Visits of longer than a week should involve substantial engagement by the visitor in a group’s research programs and day-to-day research life and/or intensive work on a research project. The latter form of involvement would be expected to result in an application for funding to an external funding organisation or a published research outcome (or both). Longer term Visiting Scholars are also expected to give at least one general lecture or seminar in their field on a topic of relatively broad interest within the University of Canberra or the regional research community.

Complementary Programs & Activities in the University

1. The University’s Outside Studies Program.
2. University of Canberra Early Career Researcher Support Grants scheme.
3. The University’s program of research / research management workshops.
4. Ongoing seminar programs in each division, school and Research Area. 

Appointment of Visiting Scholars

Visiting Research Scholars staying for a few days are likely to be brought into the University in two circum­stances: where a suitably senior researcher

• visiting Canberra (possibly even visiting the University) stays on for an extra few days to undertake the activities set out above under Expectations from the Visit and Duration & Nature of Visits
• domiciled elsewhere in Australia or already visiting Australia from overseas comes to the University for a few days to undertake these activities.

Visiting Research Scholars staying for longer periods are also likely to be brought into the University in two circumstances … where a suitably eminent researcher

• domiciled in Australia or already visiting Australia from overseas visits the University for a few weeks to undertake the activities set out above under Expectations from the Visit and Duration & Nature of Visits
• domiciled overseas travels to Australia specifically to visit the University for a few weeks to undertake these activities.

Provided the researcher does not already intend travelling to Australia for some other purpose at around the relevant time and is not entitled to have fares paid by the home institution, international airfares can be subsidised for Visiting Scholars who are staying for 3 weeks or more. Given the cost of international travel, it is unlikely the Research Committee would support nominations for international fares-paid visits of less than three weeks’ duration, although a research group with a strong case for payment of fares for a shorter visit can ask for special consideration.

Level of Financial Support, & Associated Conditions

The grants-in-aid to support Visiting Scholars can be calculated from the following matrix:

 * The fact that the maximum possible grants for a six-day visit and for a two-week visit are equal, and the fact that in certain circumstances the grant for a Visiting Scholar here for four or five days can be greater than that for a Visiting Scholar here for a week, reflect the reality that, other things being equal, accommodation is much more expensive for shorter periods.

Associated Conditions

1. The program is not intended to support costs for dependants. 
2. The cost of travel to and from Australia is not funded if a Visiting Scholar is entitled to travel costs under study leave or similar provisions from the home institution. 
3. A Visiting Scholar’s costs should not be covered over a weekend if the weekend falls immediately before or immediately after the visit being supported. 
4. The program will normally not support visits by Adjuncts of the University. Commitment to visiting the University is a condition of receiving Adjunct status, so any application to support a visit by an Adjunct will be considered only if a specific task demands special visits above and beyond those normally associated with Adjunct status.

Number of Grants Available Each Year

The Research Committee envisages up to three Visiting Scholar grants at or near the maximum level of funding being allocated each year, desirably with one being available to each academic division. Depending on the funds available and the strength of nominations, the Committee intends to allocate around a dozen other Visiting Scholar grants, again with as even an allocation as possible across divisions.

Selection Criteria

• Demonstration that the visit will be of interest and benefit to a number of researchers and/or a body of research students.
• Alignment of the proposed activities with the research objectives of the Research Area or group, together with the strength of support for the visit from the relevant Research Area/University Research Centre, school or division.
• The achievements and status of the prospective Visiting Research Scholar. A Visiting Scholar being brought from overseas would need to be an international leader in the field.
• The potential to foster enduring interaction/collaboration with the Visiting Scholar. 

The Nomination Process & Supporting Documentation

Nominations may be submitted at any time. Nominations may be submitted well in advance of the proposed visit, but grants that are not taken up within six months of the date of offer will be surrendered and the funds returned to the Office of Research and Research Degrees (ORRD).

The prospective visitor should be nominated by an academic member of the Research Area or University Research Centre that will benefit directly from the visit, using the nomination form. The nomination form should describe the proposed program of activities, which should be organised by the nominating staff member in consultation with colleagues and the prospective Visiting Research Scholar, and provide a simple budget for the proposed visit. The nomination form should also have attached the prospective Visiting Scholar’s abridged c.v. (no more than four pages) that includes

• full name, address, telephone number and fax number or email address
• qualifications and list of publications for the past three years
• present position, address, telephone number and fax number or email address of home institution,

as well as the Visiting Scholar’s confirmation in writing that (s)he is able and willing to attend the University for the period referred to in the nomination to undertake the activities described.

The Head of School or director or leader of the Research Area or Director of the University Research Centre should confirm on the form both support for the nomination and the availability of office space and other facilities, and where appropriate research facilities, for the Visiting Scholar. For nominations proposing a grant of $2,000 or more, the academic division PVC should sign to indicate her/his support for the proposal.

The original of the nomination form bearing the requisite signatures should be submitted to the Secretary of the University Research Committee in room 1D112. An electronic copy should be submitted to researchapplications@canberra.edu.au

The Selection Process

A sub-committee of the Research Committee will serve as the selection panel. This panel will first satisfy itself that each nomination received presents a sound case for offering a grant, viewed against the selection criteria. The panel will then offer grants on essentially a ‘first come, first served’ basis within academic divisions, although in the course of selection the panel may seek the academic division PVC's views on an application.

If within six months of the first allocations any of a particular division’s notional quota of grants ($12,000) remains unallocated, the panel may recommend to the Research Committee that those grants be opened to general competition.

Undoubtedly, nominations will be seeking grants with a range of urgency. While sometimes a visit can be planned in a leisurely timeframe, on other occasions it will be desirable to capitalise on the availability of a prospective Visiting Scholar at short notice. For this reason the Research Committee has resolved that turn-around of nominations within a few days must be possible where necessary.

Reporting

At the conclusion of the visit the Research Committee will require a short (no more than one page) report on the visit, identifying what researchers and research students gained from it. Both the sponsoring UC staff member and the Visiting Fellow should contribute to the report.

Conditions in Addition to Those Already Identified

• If any changes that could affect on the availability of the proposed Visiting Scholar or the University’s ability to host him/her occur after funds are made available, the proponent must advise ORRD in writing. The Research Committee will consider any effect of the change on the grant.
• Any research undertaken during the visit will be conducted in accordance with the University’s Guidelines for Responsible Practice in Research and Dealing with Problems of Research Misconduct, as well as the University’s requirements for approval for the project for ethics, recombinant DNA and ionising radiation purposes. Work on the project is not to start until all necessary ethics and similar approvals have been obtained.
• Funds awarded under a grant are paid into a University cost centre established specifically to manage those funds. Only those funds are to pass through the cost centre.
• The recipient is required to ensure that expenditure from the cost centre is in accordance with the budget contained in the nomination, which was approved by the Research Committee.
• Any expenditure incurred by the recipients in hosting the Visiting Scholar additional to the amount of the grant is the responsibility of the recipients.
• Both University staff and students and the Visiting Scholar are required to acknowledge the financial support provided by the University in any publication, report or presentation resulting from a visit.