Visiting Appointments

You may apply for any of the below categories that you feel is most suitable, but the EI’s Research Committee and the School’s central Appointments Committee reserve the right to confer at title at a more appropriate level.

Visiting Fellowships

The title of Visiting Fellow is given to scholars who are pre-Major Review (or equivalent) with post-doctoral status, practitioners of equivalent standing in an appropriate profession/occupation, and researchers in the early stages of their career.

Visiting Senior Fellowships

The title of Visiting Senior Fellow is given to individuals who have already published work of distinction, and those who have made a senior contribution in government service, in professional practice, in the private sector, or in other appropriate fields.

Visiting Professors

The title of Visiting Professor is for reserved for those who have appropriate eminent distinction within the academic professions, and whose connections with the School are appropriate for such a title. Note that the title of Professor at a home institution does not guarantee a Visiting Professorship at LSE.

Visiting Professors in Practice

The title of Visiting Professor in Practice is for those who have appropriate eminent distinction within their area of practice without, however, having sufficient academic distinction.

As per School policy, terms of appointment shall be for no more than three years and no fewer than 12 months. Appointments may be exceptionally renewed for longer than three years, or fewer than 12 months, on the approval of the Research Committee and LSE appointments committee. Appointments cannot be shorter than one academic term. Note that short-term appointments (i.e. one year or less) are not normally eligible for the full range of benefits of a longer appointment (see below).

Note that visiting appointments in the European Institute are non-contractual and unremunerated.

Tier 5 Sponsorship

Visiting Professors or Visiting Professors in Practice who are not nationals of the United Kingdom or European Economic Area (EEA), and who receive financial support of any form (from a formal source of funding such as the government, university, research council, charitable organisation etc.) to carry out research, must have a Tier 5 visa before they can work at the School.

Candidates must contact the HR Immigration and Compliance team at hr.visas@lse.ac.uk to confirm their status in advance of their application. Their response should be forwarded to ei.academic@lse.ac.uk, so that it can form part of your application. See section: Applying for a visiting appointment at the European Institute

All visiting staff in the European Institute benefit from the following:

• Use of the European Institute’s Visiting Fellows’ space
• An LSE staff ID
• An invitation to attend departmental social events, weekly lunches and our research seminar lunchtime series (Europe@LSE)
• Use of the LSE Library
• Use of the Staff Common Room / Staff Dining Room, by arrangement
• Promotion of activities on the webpage

Visiting appointments of 12 months or longer also benefit from:

• An LSE IT account and email address
• A listing on the webpage

Applying for external funding

All classifications of Visiting staff are eligible to apply for external research funding in their own name and using the School’s name. This is subject to the support of the Head of Department, the Research Chair and wider Research Committee, and with the approval of the Fellow’s own home institution. Where there is no salary provision, they shall continue to be a visiting staff member. Where salary is being charge to the grant, they will be required to move to a researcher contract in order to take up the award. Their salaries are directly incurred to the project. They shall not receive PFRs and must operate in line with relevant research grants and promotion policy for their career track.

Visiting staff who are interested in applying for external funding must email
ei.academic@lse.ac.uk with their request and further details.

If approval is provided as above, Visiting staff must also discuss their plans with the School’s Research and Projects Development Division (RPDD) prior to the submission of the application. Contact the European Institute’s administrative Research Manager at
ei.academic@lse.ac.uk for more details on how to do this.

Applicants are expected to cover their own salary costs by building this into the application. Should an application be successful, with the applicant’s salary and payroll costs built into the award, then the appointment process and issue of a School contract would be processed through the School’s Human Resources Division, subject to the School’s employment rules and regulations. The applicant’s suitability for subsequent appointment to the senior research staff would be considered in the usual way by a School selection committee.

Visiting staff are expected to actively contribute to the European Institute community, though research with permanent staff, participation in our public events and/or student engagement programmes.
Visiting staff must contribute at least one of the above areas during their time with the department. This might include: submitting a working paper to the EIQ Discussion Paper series, participate actively in EI public events – either though presenting or regularly attendance, or participate in student engagement activities.
Visiting staff are encouraged to discuss ideas with the Deputy Head of Department (Research) and Department Manager to ensure that they are meeting requirements of the post.

Contact points during your appointment

Visiting staff should meet regularly with their sponsor and should make an appointment to meet with the Chair of the Research Committee - who also serves as the Visiting Fellows Coordinator - at the start of their term.

Administrative questions should be addressed to the Research Manager at ei.academic@lse.ac.uk and notification of public activity (e.g. media appearances, published works) should be sent to our Events and Communications Manager at ei.comms@lse.ac.uk for inclusion on our webpage.

Applications for visiting appointments go through a two-stage process; in the first instance they are considered by the EI’s Research Committee. Applications accepted at this stage will then be considered by the School’s appointments committee, who make the final decision regarding visiting posts.

Applications for appointments in the department must also be sponsored by a member of European Institute academic staff (i.e. Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, full Professor, or Professorial Research Fellow), and you should approach EI staff prior to submitting your application, as you will need their reference in order to apply.

The following information must be provided to the EI’s Research Manager at ei.academic@lse.ac.uk, as per the dates listed in the Timetable section below.

1. Complete the European Institute’s Visiting Appointment Application Form.
2. Submit a full, up-to-date curriculum vitae.
3. Provide a statement of support from a member of the European Institute academic staff, submitted via the online form.
4. If a Tier 5 visa is required: Email approval from the LSE HR Immigration and Compliance team. Note: Only applicable to Visiting Professors/Visiting Professors in Practice who are not UK/EEA nations. You will find more details on Tier 5 Sponsorship in the Terms of Appointment section of this webpage.

The application will be checked by the EI’s Research Manager, in consultation with the Department Manager and the Chair of the Research Committee. Application papers will be circulated in advance of the EI Research Committee and nominations discussed at the meeting.

Candidates will be notified of the Research Committee’s decision, normally within one week after the meeting, and the Research Manager will submit successful candidates’ details to HR for the final approval of the Appointments Committee. The AC reserve the right to reject candidates approved by the Committee, or to request additional information before approval. Candidates are not officially accepted as Visiting Staff in the European Institute until HR has issued a letter of confirmation.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with the 2025/26 deadlines as follows:

• 19th September 2025 (for a start date in December)
• 2nd January 2026 (for a start date in May)
• 24th April 2026 (for a start date in July)

Please note that these dates can shift yearly due to term dates, and you are advised to email ei.academic@lse.ac.ukto confirm the timeline.

Note also that the process for applying can be somewhat lengthy, so you are encouraged to follow the deadlines above and apply well in advance of your expected start date.