Visiting scientists and interns

Visiting Scientists:

A pre-condition for a visiting scientist’s stay with DTU is that conditions for the stay are established with the visiting scientist’s home university prior to the visit.

DTU’s ownership to intellectual property rights (“IP”) generated by a visiting scientist must be secured by DTU, since DTU grants rights options to its project partners in its research project agreements. This is to prevent DTU from being in breach of its contracts. In addition, since DTU is self-insured, matters such as liability and insurance must be agreed on to prevent DTU from incurring liability for Visiting Scientists. The Visiting Scientist Agreement is signed by the home university and DTU and can be downloaded here. 

The duration of the stay is expected to be maximum 6 months. The head of Department is given a mandate to extent the stay at DTU to a maximum of 12 months

DTU's Executive Board has decided that the signing of the Visiting Scientist Agreement on the conditions set forth herein is a prerequisite for the visiting scientist’s stay with DTU.

DTU’s Visiting Scientist Agreement is non-negotiable, and the department must ensure that the Visiting Scientist Agreement is signed and journalized prior to the stay. 

Interns:

Subject to agreement between a DTU’s departments and another university, students from such other university may do internships at DTU for short time periods outside the regular exchange programs, e.g. Erasmus. The students are considered interns as opposed to students enrolled at DTU as they are not registered in STADS. Typically, the intern will participate in research project(s) at the individual department under supervision of a DTU scientist.

DTU’s ownership to intellectual property rights (“IP”) generated by an intern must be secured by DTU, since DTU grants rights options to its project partners in its research project agreements. This is to prevent DTU from being in breach of its contracts. In addition, since DTU is self-insured, matters such as liability and insurance must be agreed on to prevent DTU from incurring liability for its interns.

A pre-condition for the intern’s stay with DTU is the conclusion of an agreement governing the internship with the home university and the intern prior to the intern’s stay with DTU. The Internship Agreement can be downloaded here. 

DTU's Executive Board has decided that the signing of the Internship Agreement on the conditions set forth herein is a prerequisite for the intern’s stay with DTU.

DTU’s Internship Agreement is non-negotiable, and the department must ensure that the Internship Agreement is signed and journalized prior to the stay. 

Guest researcher or visitor?

Read more about the distinction between a guest researcher and a visitor.

Further questions

The mailbox vsa-afri@dtu.dk can be used for questions regarding visiting researchers and Visiting Scientist Agreements. This mailbox is only for general questions about the Visiting Scientist procedure or general comments and suggestions for improvements, e.g. in relation to special situations in general, or in relation to special collaborative relationships such as strategic partnerships. However, the mailbox cannot be used to request legal or other assistance for specific Visiting Scientist Agreements, since their terms are non-negotiable. It is the DTU-departments, themselves, who must to communicate to the home institutions that the terms of the Visiting Scientist Agreement are not negotiable. It is a decision made by DTU’s Executive Board that our Visiting Scientist Agreement are non-negotiable and must be handled at the Departments.