Academic Unpaid Leave

The Social Sciences Division has adopted the following guidelines for considering requests for special unpaid leave from academic staff:

1. These guidelines cover all staff holding an Associate Professorship, Statutory Professorship, RSIV post, and/or the title of Professor.
2. Members of staff must consult with their Head of Department before applying for a visiting position at another institution which would necessitate a period of leave, e.g. a fellowship or visiting professorship at another university. If the member of staff holds a shared post between two departments, both Heads of Department must be consulted.
3. Members of staff are normally expected to use sabbatical leave to facilitate taking up a temporary or visiting position at another institution.
4. Requests for special unpaid leave will only be considered in truly exceptional cases on the grounds of providing demonstrable academic benefit to the University and/or an exceptional career development opportunity to the individual. Given the disruption to ordinary departmental operations that the leave may cause, the standard for the application of these criteria will be high.[1]
5. At the divisional level, requests for unpaid leave will be considered by the Divisional Appointments Panel, a subcommittee of Divisional Board. The grounds for a request must be demonstrated in a detailed written case to the panel. Cases must be submitted to Division at least one academic term before the start of the proposed leave period.
6. Any period of unpaid leave, if granted, will be for no more than 12 months. Extensions may only be considered on an exceptional basis, and will require the member of staff to use accrued sabbatical entitlement.
7. Where relevant, consent for the period of leave must also be sought from the member of staff’s college.
8. A member of staff granted leave under this policy will be required to write to their department no later than one academic term prior to the end of the period of leave stating their intention to return, or resign from, their post at the University.
9. No more than two requests for special unpaid leave may be made in a 5-year period. The DAP will take account of any previous requests for leave in their decision-making.

Cases for special unpaid leave for academic staff should be made via a member of staff's department(s) and submitted to academic-hr@socsci.ox.ac.uk. The University's regulations on sabbatical leave can be found here. The University also provides guidance on requests for other types of leave, including leave to hold some public offices and carer's leave.

The above guidelines were agreed by the Social Sciences Planning and Resources Committee on 19 April 2024.