Academic visitors

We invite applications from individuals in the following academic areas, though we are open to other specialisms:

• Art and Design
• Digital Technologies in Education (including TEL and Computing Education)
• Death Studies
• Disability Studies
• Multilingualism
• Music
• Science Education (including sustainability and climate education)
• Sociology
• Values Education
• colleagues who are currently employed at another Higher Education Institution (or an equivalent research organisation) overseas.

You can be at any level of your career and have teaching, research or management responsibilities.*

You may be:

• on sabbatical leave from your overseas academic institution and visiting the University to carry out your own personal research. Ethical clearance for such research should be obtained at  your own institution first. We may request confirmation from the your institution.
• taking part in formal arranged exchanges, e.g. where the University is collaborating with an overseas university on research and exchanges staff for some or all of the duration of the project. Any salary should continue to be paid by your own overseas institution. 

As an academic visitor, you fall under the Standard Visitor visa category. 

Find out more about visiting as an academic.

How long is an academic visit? 

Your visit can be a minimum of one month and a maximum of one year (or six months if visa restrictions apply), depending on your visa terms.

We are unable to extend visits unless under exceptional circumstances.

*Please note that students are not usually eligible to make visits under the Academic Visitor scheme.

To apply, email the following supporting documents listed below to ioe@reading.ac.uk with the subject line “For the Academic Visitors Programme”:

• your CV, with a passport-sized photo at the top, if possible
• a scanned copy of your passport (showing your name, date of birth and nationality)
• exact dates of your arrival and departure
• your residential and employment postal addresses
• two references relating to your area of research, on headed paper and signed by the referees
• your research proposal (typically 1-3 sides of A4 paper), stating the following in one line at the top of your proposal: “The purpose of my visit is to further my research on ...”
• ethical clearance if you are planning to conduct data collection in the UK (please note that we cannot guarantee assistance with access to participants for data collection purposes).

We encourage you to complete your application at least one full term or three full months in advance of the proposed start date of the visit. An application does not guarantee acceptance.
All applications are considered on the first and third Monday of each month. The Academic Visitors Coordinator will inform you in writing of the decision of your application.

Applications are considered according to the following criteria:

• the applicant’s fit with the research interests of colleagues
• the availability of office space in the Department.

We reserve the right to restrict the number of visitors based on working space and resources.

Upon receiving your documents, we will arrange a mentor for you. Once the mentor has read and approved your CV, research proposal, and references, we will arrange for the Head of the Institute to send you an invitation letter.

Visa advice