Research Insights

The requirements of the Visiting Researcher/Scholar (VRS) policies and procedures help to ensure that mid- to long-term visitors have access to necessary UGA resources, as well as identification through a UGAID and appropriate “standing” at UGA.  Effective May 1, 2014, the visiting researcher/scholar hosting and onboarding procedures detailed on this webpage are required to host a visitor on the UGA campus.

These procedures have been updated effective March 15, 2017.  The VRS Questionnaire and VRS webpage will be updated with these new changes on March 15, 2017.  https://research.uga.edu/visiting/procedures/

The changes are summarized below.

1) If a visitor requires a background investigation (US or Canadian citizens), this paperwork must be completed before the official VRS process is initiated. Approval derived from a completed background investigation (or wavier from HR) must be submitted with the VRS questionnaire.

2) All visitors will now be required to sign an agreement. These agreements protect our faculty, other employees working with the visitor, and the work being done while the visitor is at UGA.  A signed agreement must be uploaded to the questionnaire prior to submission.

• If your visitor is attending or working at a university, or working in any other entity, an agreement that requires both the visitor’s and the employer’s signatures should be used.
• If your visitor is not employed or enrolled in/associated with any institution or company, an employer signature is not required.  Therefore, an agreement signed solely by the visitor is appropriate.
• If the proposed work involves an Intellectual Property issue that is not covered by the standard agreement, then the department should discuss this with UGA’s Innovation Gateway (Cheryl Junker, junkercl@uga.edu) and establish the relevant IP agreement before the VRS questionnaire is submitted.

Questions about the VRS process, email vrs@uga.edu.