Assessment Criteria: Honorary Personal Professor and Honorary Professor

Assessment Criteria: Honorary Personal Professor and Honorary Professor

Ordinarily, individuals will be first appointed at Honorary Senior Lecturers for a period of at least 5 years, and then can apply for promotion to an Honorary Professorship. The outcome of the review panel will determine if they are recommended for appointment as an Honorary Professor and whether that is at Personal Professor level or (full) Professor level. Applications for promotion or renewal of Honorary Professor positions within the School of Medicine will be assessed based on the following performance criteria:

Outstanding achievement in education including exceptional teaching contributions, educational research and educational leadership.
Outstanding achievement in research including exceptional research productivity, impact, innovation, supervision and leadership.

The criteria are mapped to the university promotion guidance for personal professor (PP) positions and are aligned to the university/college values. The criteria presented below represent an indicative rather than an exhaustive list of evidence to support nomination under the University of Galway ACAP.

Teaching Criteria

Candidates for honorary appointments at Professor level will be expected to have made an outstanding contribution to the teaching, learning and assessment of undergraduate and postgraduate students and teaching innovation locally and/or in a wider context. Evidence of teaching and leadership should include:

1. Evidence of meeting the essential criteria a-c.

2. Evidence of meeting four or more of the desirable criteria d-p.

The depth of achievement required in any area will depend on the range of areas in which achievements have been made.

Essential Teaching Criteria

a. Outstanding contribution to teaching, supervision and mentoring of undergraduate and postgraduate students in the School of Medicine and clinical training. This may include:

Teaching and assessing learners within University/School undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes including lectures, seminars, tutorials, demonstration and small group coaching.
Regular and ongoing provision of clinical training in field of expertise

b. A regular rating of teaching performance as excellent or outstanding. This evidence may include, but need not be limited to, feedback from peer observation of teaching, external examiners’ reports, student evaluations and teaching awards.

c. The creation of new approaches in curriculum design, content delivery, assessment etc which have been evaluated and found to be successful. This includes the development and implementation of new undergraduate or graduate/clinical programmes, courses and the revision of existing programmes or courses.

Desirable Teaching Criteria

An outstanding contribution to educational research as demonstrated by:

d. Educational publications in high impact and influential peer reviewed journals, presentation of educational research or developments at prestigious national or international conferences.

e. Successful application for external funding for educational research or for innovation and development of teaching and learning as principal applicant.

f. Evidence of the successful dissemination and uptake by others of new and outstanding teaching approaches or content developed by the applicant. This could include new graduate training programmes, CPD programmes, undergraduate programmes/courses, curriculum development/ workshops, publications or web sites.

g. Evidence of outstanding achievement by graduates of the applicant’s teaching/supervision as demonstrated by student awards, external examiners’ reports, prize adjudication, etc.

h. Regular participation in and leadership of educational continuing professional development designed to improve the applicant’s teaching/learning skills, raise awareness of educational issues, etc.

i. The production and publication of outstanding and highly evaluated materials (which may include materials developed for e-learning courses) and/or textbooks to support and develop students’ learning.

j. Evidence of providing outstanding academic guidance and mentoring for more junior academic, clinical colleagues or undergraduate medical students toward exceptional achievement. (Would expect to be supported by student testimonial evidence).

k. Acting as an external assessor / accreditor for another institution, or leadership of a Quality Assurance assessment/audit panel.

l. Outstanding contributions to substantial improvements in the quality of education conducted within the University of Galway and the School of Medicine through engagement in undergraduate or postgraduate curriculum committees, academic year committees, student affairs committees etc.

m. Outstanding contribution to intellectual, cultural, social and economic life at institutional, regional, national and international levels.

n. Outstanding contribution to the development or application of public or professional policy or practice including the development of educational materials that contribute to the development or implementation of public healthcare policy and practice in area of clinical specialty.

o. Outstanding contribution to the School of Medicine’s/University’s income generation through the attraction of philanthropic donations by virtue of his/her professional reputation and conduct as a clinician, medical educator and/or biomedical investigator.

p. Outstanding contribution to the School of Medicine’s/University’s income generation through consultancy activities that exploit his/her professional knowledge or experience as a clinician, medical educator and/or biomedical investigator.

Teaching Criteria (Renewals)

For applicants seeking to renew appointment as Honorary Personal Professor or Honorary Professor for another 5 years, the following level of engagement must be demonstrated:

a. A minimum of 20 hours per year of student-facing teaching including lectures, or small group teaching

b. Participation in student assessments every year, such as end of year examinations

Research and Innovation Criteria

Candidates for honorary appointments to Professor level will be assessed on the basis of outstanding performance and recognition as a researcher of national and international esteem in their chosen field. For promotion to or renewal of Honorary Professor, evidence of outstanding research contribution and leadership should include:

1. Evidence of meeting the essential criteria a-c.

2. Evidence of meeting four or more of the desirable criteria d-q.

The depth of achievement required in any area will depend on the range of areas in which achievements have been made.

Essential Research and Innovation Criteria

a. Evidence of having achieved outstanding national and/or international status and recognition in a discipline or field of study, as demonstrated through a record of high quality research outputs:

Evidence of an outstanding volume of past and ongoing publication of sole or jointly authored articles or papers in high impact peer reviewed journals of major international reputation / impact; (consistent with discipline norms).
Outstanding record of published peer reviewed conference proceedings.
Completion of major research reports as the outcomes of research projects or funded consultancies;
Completion of one or more sole author or edited books that reflect original research. If co-edited, the applicant’s contribution must be substantial;
Publication of sole or jointly authored chapters in prestigious and/or well-received books.

b. Substantial evidence of repeated successful applications for external research funding for research projects and other innovation work:

As principal applicant;
As major co-applicant

c. Evidence of significant standing at national or international level in the candidate’s discipline through one or more of the following:

Leadership of national or international research societies;
Regular invitations to contribute to Government advisory bodies;
Receipt of several academic honours such as prizes for research and/or innovation.

Desirable Research and Innovation Criteria

Evidence of significant standing at national or international level in editorial and refereeing activity through one or more of the following:

d. Editorship of a substantial journal;

e. Organisation of major conferences;

f. Senior role in refereeing and assessing research grant applications at national and/or international level;

g. Evidence of substantial new intellectual property generated as a result of own investigations or investigations conducted within team led by the nominee including the successful application and granting of patents and licences.

h. Evidence of outstanding collaborative research with clinicians or academics in the University, nationally and internationally.

i. Evidence of invitations to prepare expert reports or literature reviews in field of expertise that are published in internationally respected books and journals.

j. Evidence of the successful leadership and supervision of MD, PhD or post-doctoral researchers. Evidence of outstanding supervision of such students, and of the successful submission of completed theses. Evidence of provision of outstanding research guidance and mentoring to more junior academic colleagues as evidenced by student testimonials.

k. Evidence of outstanding success in the management and long-term support of a significant research group through acquisition of funding from a variety of external sources.

l. Evidence of outstanding research interactions with the local, regional and/or national industrial/commercial/public sectors over an extended period through regionally and nationally funded schemes, with clear and defined benefits.

m. Organisation of major national/international research conferences.

n. Other outstanding acts of selflessness that benefit colleagues within clinical or university community and which furthers the establishment of a world class healthcare service and/or international leadership as a centre for clinical research.

Research and Innovation Criteria (Renewals)

For applicants seeking to renew appointment as Honorary Personal Professor or Honorary Professor for another 5 years, evidence of continued research and innovation productivity should be demonstrated, including but not limited to:

a. Continued publication of sole or jointly authored articles or papers in peer reviewed journals.

b. Continued record of published peer reviewed conference proceedings.

c. Completion of major research reports as the outcomes of research projects or funded consultancies;

d. Publication of sole or jointly authored chapters in prestigious and/or well-received books.