Non-employee Research Affiliates
Purpose:
To share policies and procedures for creating Non-employee Research Affiliate appointments, including visiting scholars, visiting researchers, unpaid research fellows, and unpaid postdocs.
Relevant Definitions:
Research Affiliates: a formal designation given to a non-employee researcher or scholar who is temporarily in residence at UT Austin and needs access to university systems as part of their collaborative work.
Sometimes abbreviated as NERA
May be appointed using any of these job profiles:
Research Affiliate – Visiting Researcher/Scholar (A006)
Research Affiliate – Senior Research Fellow (A012)
Research Affiliate -- Research Fellow (A011)
Research Affiliate – Postdoctoral (A010)
Research Collaborator (A024)
Used for researchers who collaborate remotely and are therefore not eligible to use A006 Visiting Researcher/Scholar.
Industry Affiliate (A029)
This job profile is intended for industry affiliates that need access to research core facilities, laboratories, or office space located on campus. These individuals must be employed by a local company and require a University sponsor, preferably a faculty member. They do not collaborate on research with UT faculty/PIs. This profile is not intended for use for visiting researchers/scholars, research collaborators, employees of contractors, or governmental agencies.
Research Affiliates need to be sponsored by a faculty member within a department who will take responsibility for the visitor and serve as a point of contact.
Research Affiliate privileges are added as Job Classifications via the Workday BP. (See Step 13 of the WIG.)
Research Affiliates meeting the following criteria require approval by the OVPR prior to being appointed:
Will be in residence for more than 14 days
Will conduct work in a research lab or will conduct research-related activity using UT facilities and resources
Will be assigned an Affiliate EID or Member EID
Will be appointed to a temporary unpaid research affiliate position per HOP 7-1020 (Research Titles)
Is an international/foreign national – pre-approval from OVPR is no longer required for domestic U.S. citizens.
VSVR: Visiting Researcher or Visiting Scholar; one type of research affiliate appointee; usually researchers/scholars from corporations or other academic institutions who are self-funded or independently funded by a third-party source. Visitors typically initiate request for nomination and collaborate on research that may benefit their own research endeavors in addition to furthering the University’s mission.
OVPR: The Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors; primary office overseeing research-related employment and non-employee research affiliates.
Visual Compliance: The outside vendor web tool UT uses to ensure UT departments do not knowingly initiate ties to individuals or entities of concern to the U.S. government.
Process:
Make sure your Research Affiliate has or creates a UT EID.
Follow the OPVR’s Nonemployee (Unpaid) Research Affiliates (Visiting Researchers and Scholars) webpage instructions on how to appoint a Research Affiliate.
If pre-approval from OVPR is required, submit the Nonemployee Research Affiliate Request for new or renewing non-employee research affiliate appointments. Note: Pre-approval is not required for domestic U.S. citizens or renewals when the research affiliate is continuing in the same position with no break in service greater than 6 months.
UT Sponsor: Faculty member who is sponsoring the visitor.
UT Organization Host: Department Chair. If the Department Chair is the UT Sponsor, then the Host will be Associate Dean Frances Champagne.
Run a Visual Compliance check:
For access to Visual Compliance see Authorizations
To run a Visual Compliance check (from VPR):
Log in and, click on Restricted Party Screening (RPS).
Enter the name of the person (check spelling against an official document such as a passport).
Enter the information you have available (address, former university/employer, etc.,) but most importantly the country of citizenship.
In the Comment section, add the visitor's name/EID, department, and the name of the sponsoring professor. (This is important because Visual Compliance retains these searches and will send you an email if that person (or a person with a similar name) gets added to any of the lists and having that reference is useful.)
You can search first by using Fuzzy Logic 2.
If there are no problems, you can proceed.
If there is a hit, the next step is to search using an Exact Match. Make sure you double check the spelling.
If you get a positive hit, please forward to export@austin.utexas.edu, University Export Controls Officer.
Save your search results as a PDF.
Issue* the candidate a Non-Employee University Affiliate offer letter and the Non-Employee Research Affiliate Agreement (see NOTE). The agreement must be signed by the candidate, a representative from the candidate’s home organization, the UT Organization Host, and the UT Sponsor.
*NOTE: If OVPR pre-approval for the position is required, the department must wait until that approval is received before completing the offer letter/agreement step.
Use the Hire WIG to add the Research Affiliate to a JM sup org in Workday.
The background check will be initiated via the Hire BP.
We recommend beginning the Hire BP well in advance of intended start date to allow sufficient time for the background check to process.
Privileges are added in the Additional Job Classifications field – descriptions of the 4 options are included in the Contract Contingent Worker WIG (p.2).
The following items must be attached to the BP:
Signed offer letter – Research Titles Offer Letter Templates
Signed Non-Employee Research Affiliate Agreement
Visual Compliance Report PDF (see 2.b.iii.)
(If applicable) Approval email from OVPR
Please add Comments explaining you are creating a Research Affiliate appointment and mention the sponsoring faculty member.
If you did Not include this information in the "Assignment Details" section of the BP, then you Must include the following information in the Comments:
Visitor's Nationality: (insert nationality)
Current Affiliation: (insert external organization)
Research Activities: (insert title of research project or brief description)
Visual Compliance cleared as of (insert date).
Related Policies:
Other Related Links:
How to Sponsor an International Scholar Quick Guide (from OVPR)
How to Sponsor a U.S. Domestic Visiting Scholar Quick Guide (from OVPR)