Academic Visitors

The Faculty of Philosophy welcomes Academic Visitors. In principle, Academic Visitor status is available to holders of an established teaching or research post in the Philosophy department at another university who wish to spend a period of up to 12 months at Oxford for the purposes of undertaking private research.

With effect from 16th October 2025, prospective Visitors must:

(a)  hold an established teaching or research post in a Philosophy department at another university. This can include holders of distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowships (on a par with British Academy, Royal Society, or Wellcome Trust Fellowships) but does not normally include those who hold a temporary university position or a university position while completing a doctorate;

(b)  have obtained the support of a member of the Philosophy Faculty Panel at Oxford;

(c)  meet the Home Office criteria for the appropriate visa route for the visit (if applicable); and

(d)  pay an administration fee of £600 per term or £2000 per calendar year, should their application be approved. 

Assessment Criteria for applications include:

(a)   the academic merits of the proposed research; and

(b)   relevancy of the proposed activities to those of the Faculty.

Academic Visitors are entitled to the following benefits:

• University card for access to the Humanities Library and the Bodleian Libraries;
• Oxford University email address and IT account giving access to all available electronic databases;
• access to the Philosophy Centre in the Schwarzman Centre during building opening hours;
• opportunity to attend seminars and lectures and to meet colleagues and students;
• subscription to the Philosophy Faculty notices mailing list for information on events happening within the Faculty and elsewhere; and
• letters providing official recognition of academic visitor status and duration of visit (on request).

Please note that academic visitors are not entitled to accommodation, an office, secretarial facilities, IT assistance (beyond what it required to provide the access specified above), or to supervision by a member of the Faculty’s academic staff.