DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSOR PROGRAM

DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSOR PROGRAM

OVERVIEW

This document provides the rules and the process for the Distinguished Visiting Professors Program. One of the strategic goals of PSU is the internationalization of its research and the establishment of collaboration activities with other top Universities. For this purpose, PSU offers the Distinguished Visiting Professor Program, where a professor/researcher from a reputed University, can be invited to the University as a visiting professor. The objective is that colleges/Research labs/groups at PSU take benefit from a long-term research collaboration that promotes research productivity and visibility of PSU.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the Distinguished Visiting Professors Program is to provide a flexible framework to attract reputed scholars in the world to Prince Sultan University to promote its research and education impact. This practice is done in several international universities and Saudi Universities The main objectives are:

  • Raise the research and education impact and reputation of Prince Sultan University.
  • Establishment of joint and long-term collaborative research between the institution of the distinguished visiting professor and PSU.
  • Provide mentorship in research to faculty members at PSU by interacting with top scholars in the world to learn from their experience.
  • Enrich the teaching and learning experience at PSU by assigning courses to the distinguished visiting professors.

PROFILE OF DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSOR

The distinguished visiting professor should have the following criteria:

  • A highly reputed scholar in his field of expertise with the rank of Full Professor from a reputed foreign University. Associate Professors can also be accepted if they have an exceptional research record and experience.
  • Should have occupied top management positions in research and/or industry.
  • Must be a highly indexed/cited researcher.
  • His area of expertise falls in the main research themes of Prince Sultan University.

CATEGORIES OF DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSOR

LONG-TERM VISITING

The long-term visiting professor program is defined over at least one semester to one year, which can be renewed at semester or yearly basis based on mutual agreement between the University and the visiting professor.

The duties of the professor are the following:

  • Conduct joint research with faculty members of the research lab/group relevant to his area of expertise.
  • Attract external funded research projects by writing joint proposals with faculty members at PSU.
  • Mentor faculty members at PSU.
  • Co-author papers with researchers and faculty members at PSU.
  • Involve PSU researchers into international events and journals, like Program Committees, and journal editorials.
  • Involve PSU faculty members in the co-supervision of his Ph.D. and Master students in the context of joint research (invite outstanding Ph.D. students).
  • Contribute to promoting research strategies at PSU.
  • Teaching activities: teach 0-1 course per semester (4-6 hours/week).
  • A minimum of two joint research publications in Q1-Q2 journals per semester is required as an outcome of the visiting research professor.
SHORT-TERM VISITING

The short-term visiting professor program is defined over at least one week to two months. The duties of the professor are the following:

  • Establish a plan (or MoU) for research collaboration between a research lab/group at PSU and the visiting professor research lab/institutions.
  • Provide seminar/training workshops/technical talks to faculty members.
  • Provide an 8-30 hours teaching module to students at PSU.
  • Contribute to promoting research strategies at PSU.

JOB ADVERTISMENT PROCESS

There are different options:

OPTION 1

The University posts a general job advertisement on its website, job advertisement websites, and social networks for long and short term visiting professors specifying the research areas of interest and required profile. The University receives applications, processes them, and selects the appropriate candidates with coordination with colleges/research labs/groups.

OPTION 2

The University may request the research labs or colleges to propose visiting research professors of their interest according to the criteria above, that they may contact and coordinate with them in advance. Then, they submit a request to the University to process the request for a visiting professor.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

The candidate, in coordination with the hosting college/research lab/group, should submit the following:

  • CV: The profile of the visiting professor must satisfy the excellence requirement mentioned in “Profile of the Distinguished Visiting Professor” section.
  • An elaborated research plan must be prepared in coordination between the research lab/group or college and the visiting professor. Expected research outcomes must be presented.
  • Teaching plan (for long-term visiting professor): course description and possible schedule.
  • Filling up the Application Form for a Visiting Professor.