For Researchers
A visiting researcher may travel thousands of miles and spend weeks or months at your institution partly because of the opportunity to work with you. Hosting does not require constant supervision. Often a small amount of well-timed attention makes an enormous difference.A research visit is more than travel to another university. At its best, it can change the direction of your research, give you access to expertise or resources you could not obtain at home, create important professional relationships and lead to collaborations that continue for years. But these outcomes rarely happen automatically. Use this guide before, during and after your visit.
2 minutes · no registration
Start with the most important question: Why do I need to make this particular visit? Prestige alone is not a sufficient reason. Neither is the simple availability of funding. Ask what you can accomplish at this institution that would be difficult to accomplish at home, remotely, or through a shorter visit.
Before accepting or applying for a visit, answer seven questions about the purpose of the visit, your intended outcomes, your host, access to the resources you need, timing and duration, your practical ability to benefit, and what should continue after you return.
Before departure, try to identify two or three important outcomes.
Discuss what you are hoping to accomplish, how often you will meet, who you should meet, which activities you should join, and what the host can realistically provide.
Clarify workspace, building access, library privileges, laboratory access, data, software, ethics approval, IT credentials, confidentiality arrangements, equipment, institutional permissions or introductions.
You are temporarily surrounded by people, knowledge and opportunities that may not be available when you return home.
Confirm your priorities, meeting rhythm, important people to meet, seminars and events, access or administrative problems, and what you hope to accomplish before departure.
Ask: Who are the five people I should meet before I leave? Attend seminars. Join research meetings. Accept relevant invitations. Have coffee or lunch with colleagues. Ask people about their work.
Present your work, comment on research, participate in seminars, meet doctoral researchers, share expertise, introduce useful contacts and discuss future collaborations.
Ask: Am I achieving what I came here to do? If not, change something while there is still time.
The flight home should not be the end of the research visit. Some of its most important outcomes may occur months or years later.
Before leaving, review what you accomplished, what remains unfinished, which relationships should continue, what you have agreed to do next, and what you should share at home. Turn vague intentions into concrete next steps.
Stay connected with relationships that have genuine intellectual or collaborative potential.
Bring something home: useful methods, ideas, contacts, practices, opportunities or research findings.
The question is not only what happened during the visit. It is what exists because the visit happened.
