Academic Visitor Programme

Library services

Academic Visitors will be granted physical access to all City St George's Library sites and are entitled to use Library print resources on a reference-only basis. Academic Visitors will also have access to a limited number of the University's electronic resources at both our Law Library and through the use of a "walk-in" terminal at the Northampton Square Library.

Our Library webpages contain a list of the electronic resources available on the walk-in terminal. We also encourage visitors to take advantage of our proximity to the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library.

Bookable desk space

We have a number of desks which are available to all staff though an online booking system. Desks in demarcated offices can be booked for periods of 12 hours on week days.

Events

All Academic Visitors are invited to attend our faculty, external and PhD research seminars.

For Visiting Fellows, the typical duration of a visiting fellowship is twelve weeks. Academic Fellows are expected to coincide their stay with the availability of their mentor and should keep in mind the dates of any relevant events that they intend to participate in.

We expect Visiting Fellows to present their research project in a workshop advertised to the entire faculty, the organisation of which will be supported by the Programme Director.

For Visiting Scholars, the expectation for early career (post-doctoral) researchers is the same as the expectations of Visiting Fellows. For doctoral candidates, we expect the Visiting Scholar to present their PhD thesis in a workshop as part of the PhD training programme and to attend weekly research skills sessions.

As such, the Visiting Scholar doctoral candidate is required to be present during either Term 1 (September-December) or Term 2 (January-April). We do not run our PhD training sessions during the Summer months (May – August).

Please note that The City Law School does not offer any formal supervision to its visiting PhD students.

All applications must be submitted electronically and include:

• The applicant’s CV
• A brief statement of interest
• A one-page description of the research project
• Two scanned academic references on official headed letter
• A declaration from the applicant confirming their proficiency in English (written and spoken)
• The email confirmation of mentorship from a City Law School academic in PDF format (if available).

Please submit all of the aforementioned application materials into ONE consolidated PDF document and email the document to the Programme Director, Dr Lijun Zhao.

The reference letters and the mentorship confirmation can alternatively be sent to the Programme Director by email from the academic or professional email account of the referee or mentor.

Once we have reviewed your application and are satisfied that you meet the requirements, we will invite you for an interview over Zoom or MS Teams with the Programme Director and relevant staff members to discuss your suitability for the programme and your research expectations.

The deadline for Visiting Scholars who are doctoral candidates are as follows:

For Term 1 (end of September-December): 30 August 2026

For Term 2 (January – April): 15 November 2026

We accept all other applications for Visiting Fellows and Visiting Scholars (post-doctoral) at any time during the year. The duration of the candidate’s stay will be negotiated in the interview process.

The fee is £500 for Visiting Scholars and £250 for Visiting Fellows. Fees are payable at the start of the visit.