Visitor Policy

The Mathematical Institute welcomes academic visitors of all sorts for a variety of periods of time and believes that visitors make an important contribution to the academic environment of the department. This policy, together with the application process and guidance within the visitor pages, seeks to ensure that the department provides appropriate support and guidance for both faculty and visitor.

A Academic visitors

Who is a visitor?

  1. Short-term visitors

    Academic visitors for a period of several days (with card or desk access), up to three months

    Departmental records are maintained for a number of reasons, including ensuring compliance with visa regulations.

    Applications from a faculty sponsor are approved through the visitor processes, on behalf of the Executive Committee, and reported to Department Committee.

  2. Academic Visitors for over three months and up to one year. Departmental records are maintained for a number of reasons, including ensuring compliance with visa regulations.

    Applications from a faculty sponsor are approved through the visitor process, on behalf of the Executive Committee, and reported to Department Committee.

  3. Visitors funded by research grants/Visitors appointed by external bodies. Departmental records are maintained for a number of reasons, including ensuring compliance with visa regulations.

    These are visitors funded externally by grants to be based here, rather than visiting for a period from a position at another home institution.

    The expectation of one or more visitors should be discussed at award set-up time, with the Head of Research Facilitation and the Finance Manager, and the visitor application form should be completed by the PI/host when details are known.

  4. Visitorship titles for up to a three-year period, renewable. Departmental records are maintained for a number of reasons, including ensuring compliance with visa regulations.
    1. Visiting Professors

      Appointed by the university. Of standing comparable to an Oxford professor. All applications approved by the department need to be submitted via the divisional office.

    2. Mathematical Institute Visiting Research Fellows

      These are prestigious appointments approved by Department Committee (via the visitor processes) on application from a faculty sponsor.

    3. OCIAM Visiting Research Fellows

      These are prestigious appointments approved by Department Committee (via the visitor processes) on recommendation from OCIAM.

    4. Alan Tayler Visiting Research Fellows

      These are prestigious appointments from industry approved by Department Committee (via the visitor processes) on application from a faculty sponsor.

      They undertake research and may teach or undertake other duties.

    5. Alan Tayler Visiting Lecturers

      These are prestigious appointments from industry approved by Department Committee (via the visitor processes) on application from a faculty sponsor.

      They have a particular teaching focus.

    6. Alan Tayler Advisory Fellows

      These are prestigious appointments from Industry approved by Department Committee (via the visitor processes).

      They do not do research or give lectures: they open up pathways to industry and impact

    7. Mathematical Institute Impact Advisory Fellows

      These are prestigious appointments associated with impact approved by Department Committee (via the visitor processes).

      They do not do research or give lectures: they open up pathways to impact.

B Visiting students

All applicants for the status of student visitor must have a sponsor who is a current permanent academic postholder in the Mathematical Institute;

The sponsor should complete a visitor form and submit a brief case, made by the faculty sponsor, which includes a description of the research to be undertaken, the benefits to each party, and the associated costs, and a CV;

Applications will be assessed within the normal procedure for academic visitors and successful applicants will be given a University Card and similar services as for other visitors.

Students visiting for one full term, or longer, are treated as Recognised Students, for which applications are via Academic Admin rather than the visitor process. The department reserves the right to waive the fee if there is no grant funding available, and negotiate a bench fee, as it may consider appropriate (via the Head of Research Facilitation).


The Visitor application form has been designed to capture the information needed to support all the above types of visitor.

All the above types of visitor need a sponsor.

Who can be a sponsor?

  • Current permanent academic postholder in the Mathematical Institute
  • Other member of the Mathematical Institute in combination with their research group head. For example, a postdoc may invite a visitor and act as host if the research group head agrees to take on the responsibility of being the sponsor.

What services do visitors receive?

All the above types of visitor are eligible for some or all of the following services:

  • university card (through which flows access to university libraries, online journals, licensed software, central IT services)
  • access to the Mathematical Institute
  • departmental IT facilities
  • desk space, or a hot-desk, subject to availability

These services may be disabled if you are away from the university for periods of time and not actively working for/with the university for that period.

What fees are due?

Fees are charged on the basis of an ability to pay and are negotiated via the Head of Research Facilitation. This normally means that visitors on research grants where there is direct income for visitors are charged a bench fee and others are not. A departmental budget in support of visitors will be set annually.

Visas

Visitors are responsible for organising their own visas, if required. Further information can be found from https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration

Please see https://staffimmigration.admin.ox.ac.uk/visitor-visas for guidance


Other types of visitor

Visiting Lecturers, Examiners

These visitors do not undertake research.

They are organised through Academic Administration.

Day visitors

These are typically conference attendees. No services are provided (Eduroam and The Cloud public wifi are available).

Work experience school pupils

The department does not offer work experience places in general. An exception may be possible in cases where an individual has been in communication with a member of academic faculty who is willing to host the individual for up to 1 week to work on a mathematical project as work experience.

Last updated on 18 Jul 2023, 11:56am. Please contact us with feedback and comments about this page.