Visiting Scholar Policy

1.    Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish a consistent institutional framework for hosting Visiting Scholars at the National College of Ireland.

The policy ensures that Visiting Scholar appointments are managed in a manner that supports academic collaboration while maintaining compliance with institutional governance requirements, data protection legislation, information security policies, and relevant employment and immigration regulations.

2.    Scope

This policy applies to all Visiting Scholars hosted by the National College of Ireland across all Schools, research groups, and academic units.

It applies to both:

• Visiting Scholars who rely on access provided by their home institution or other federated access arrangements
• Visiting Scholars who require local access to NCI facilities, academic resources, or institutional systems.

The level of institutional process and provisioning required will depend on the nature of the visit and the level of access required.

This policy does not apply to individuals visiting the College under Erasmus+ or other formal exchange or mobility schemes, where those arrangements are governed by separate institutional processes.

3.    Definitions

• Visiting Scholar

A Visiting Scholar is an external academic, researcher  or other suitably qualified individual hosted by the National College of Ireland for a defined period to undertake academic collaboration, research activity, knowledge exchange, or scholarly engagement.

• Host Academic

The NCI academic staff member responsible for proposing and supervising the Visiting Scholar during their visit.

• Home-Institution Access Visiting Scholar

A Visiting Scholar who relies on access provided by their home institution or other federated access arrangements and does not require local institutional access beyond what has been approved for the visit.

• Local Access Visiting Scholar

A Visiting Scholar who requires local access to NCI facilities, services, systems, research environments, or data during the period of the visit.

• Academic Operations Team

The Academic Operations Team, acting through the relevant Academic Operations Manager, coordinates the administrative workflow, maintains the institutional register, retains approved records, and coordinates access and close-out activities.

• Institutional Register

The central record of approved Visiting Scholar appointments, including the approved visit dates, host, access requirements, governance approvals, agreement status, and completion date.

• Partner Institution

An institution with which NCI has an active memorandum of understanding, partnership agreement, articulation agreement, mobility arrangement, or other recognised institutional relationship.

4.    Policy Statement

The National College of Ireland supports academic collaboration through the hosting of Visiting Scholars.

All Visiting Scholar appointments must be managed in accordance with institutional governance requirements to ensure:

• academic oversight of visiting scholars
• compliance with data protection and information governance obligations
• appropriate management of intellectual property, confidentiality, and any required agreements
• correct administrative, HR, Facilities, Library and IT provisioning where institutional access is required
• central administrative coordination, record retention, and close-out through the Academic Operations Team
• alignment with institutional research integrity and academic standards
• disclosure and proportionate management of actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest or commitment.

No Visiting Scholar may commence their visit or be granted institutional access until the procedures set out in the Visiting Scholar Procedure have been completed.

4.1.                     Policy Principles

The implementation of this policy is guided by the following principles:

• Academic collaboration and international partnership development
• Institutional governance and accountability
• Data protection and information security
• Research integrity and academic standards
• Proportionate access to institutional systems
• Appropriate resourcing, safeguarding, and risk management where relevant
• Central coordination and accessible institutional record-keeping
• Transparent identification and management of conflicts of interest and institutional relationships

4.2.                     Compliance and Legislative Context

This policy operates within the framework of relevant Irish and European legislation and institutional governance requirements.

Visiting Scholar appointments must comply with applicable legislation and relevant College policies and procedures, including but not limited to:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Data Protection Acts 2018
• Institutional data protection and information security policies
• Research integrity, ethics and misconduct procedures
• Safeguarding and protection of vulnerable persons policies
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

Where personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, appropriate safeguards must be implemented, including Standard Contractual Clauses where required.

4.3.                     Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

The National College of Ireland is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in all academic and institutional activities.

Visiting Scholar appointments will be managed in accordance with the principles of fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination.

Any accessibility or reasonable accommodation requirements should be identified through the proposal process and addressed before the visit commences.

5.    Roles and Responsibilities

6.    Compliance and Monitoring

This policy is subject to an operational review after the first 12 months of implementation, or after the first two Visiting Scholar appointments, whichever occurs first. Thereafter the policy will be formally reviewed every three years, or earlier where required.

No Visiting Scholar may commence their visit or be granted institutional access until the procedures set out in the Visiting Scholar Procedure have been completed. This requirement operates as a preventative control at the point of access.

7.    Related Documentation

• Visiting Scholar Procedure
• Visiting Scholar Proposal and Approval Form
• Visiting Scholar Agreement
• Data Protection Policy
• Data Retention Policy
• User Security Policy
• Bring Your Own Device Policy
• Research Integrity Policy
• Research Misconduct Procedures
• Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy
• Research Ethics procedures
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy
• Intellectual Property Policy

Version Control

• Visiting Scholar Policy.pdf100 KB