Overview

Prince Sultan University faculty members may participate in scientific conferences in accordance with the following policy.

Purpose

This policy provides guidelines for attending scientific conferences by faculty members.

Definitions:

• Scientific Conference: A place where researchers and scientists from various countries are gathered to discuss and exchange ideas about the results of their scientific findings.
• Faculty Member: All faculty members of Prince Sultan University with Master’s and PhD degrees.

Policy
General Requirements

• All faculty members, current and newly hired, are entitled to participate in a scientific conference related to their area of specialization.
• Requests for participating in scientific conferences held during the following periods: the first two weeks (registrations period), the last two weeks of the academic semester, or the final examination period shall not be accepted.
• A faculty member may only participate in two scientific conferences outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia each academic year.
• A faculty member may participate in refereed scientific conferences inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia upon the recommendation of the department chair and college research committee and the approval of the College Dean without receiving monetary funding. The faculty member may, however, request funding in case he/she has not received funding for other conferences during the same academic year.
• The subject of the scientific conference should be pertinent to the specific specialization of the faculty member.
• Faculty member wishing to participate in the scientific conference must have a scientific paper / abstract accepted for presentation at the conference.
• There must be at least a three-month period between one scientific conference and the other.
• The faculty member must state his/her affiliation as a faculty member with Prince Sultan University in his/her paper or abstract. When the paper is published, an acknowledgment of Prince Sultan University’s monetary funding must be included.
• The faculty member must request participation at a reasonable time prior to the scientific conference.
• All requests to participate in refereed scientific conferences must be submitted by the faculty member to his/her department chair to be forwarded to the College Research Director, discussed at the College Research committee and forwarded to the College Dean for a final decision.
• A request to participate in a scientific conference must include the following documents:
  • A filled out “Request for Participating in Scientific Conferences” form accompanied by all required documents as specified in the form.
  • A form explaining the arrangements made concerning the faculty member’s classes during his absence and participation in the conference signed by the chairman of the department.
  • A copy of the final draft of the paper /abstract that will be presented at the scientific conference.
  • A letter from the conference’s supervising committee stating the acceptance of the paper and the name of the publisher if applicable.
  • An acceptance letter from the paper’s co-authors, if any, in which they agree for the author to present at the conference.
• As a condition for allowing him/her to attend any scientific conference later, the faculty member participating in a conference must submit a report to the head of his/her department no later than 30 days after his participation in the conference in the special form prepared for that purpose. A copy of this report must be submitted to the CRC.
• Once published, an original copy of the conference proceedings, if applicable, where the faculty member’s paper has been published must be submitted to the CRC.
• A teaching assistant can also participate in a conference, based on the mentioned guide, with the condition that he/she would be accompanied by the principle investigator for the research project.
• In case of applying for funding for conferences based on sole abstract review:
  • priority for funding will be given to faculty members with quality publications in the previous three years.
  • Special focus will be placed on the quality of research output from previously funded conferences, if applicable.
  • a copy of the funded conference’s full paper including acknowledgement of PSU-funding to be submitted to CRC after publication.
• When a faculty member is invited to a conference as a guest speaker:
  • If the invitation includes all relevant cost, then the dean can issue the leave request.
  • If the invitation covers the cost partially, then the dean, if funds are available, can issue the leave request and the college can contribute to some of the cost under “other related research activities” in the research regulations.