Overview
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Technology Access Program
Hiring a Consultant From the UW
Corporations are often interested in hiring University of Washington
(UW) employees as consultants, and such relationships can be valuable
to both parties. Companies can hire UW's experts to work on their projects,
and UW researchers can pursue interests or applications that are not currently
being studied at the University. Although many regulations govern the
hiring of a consultant from the UW, such a relationship can be productive.
UW TechTransfer can help facilitate consulting relationships
by acquainting industry with UW researchers and their projects.
If you are looking for UW faculty or staff to consult on your project,
several offices at the University can help you find a researcher working
in your area of interest:
Departmental web pages are another source of information about staff, faculty, and
their expertise. The Community of Science can also provide some leads within its searchable COS
Expertise database of researchers.
Once you find a member of the faculty or staff who is willing to consult,
that person must receive approval from the UW before taking on any consulting
work outside their employment relationship with the UW. (See Outside Professional Work Policy.)
UW employees begin the approval process by asking permission from the
appropriate UW department chairs, deans, and administrators, depending
on the unit. As part of this approval process, the UW requires the proposed
consulting agreement to be consistent with UW and Washington State policy
and with UW's commitments under sponsored research agreements. For example,
one of the UW's policies limits faculty and staff to consulting no more
than an average of one day a week, or thirteen days a quarter.
Another UW policy specifies that UW faculty and staff must avoid conflict
of interest during the consulting relationship. (See Employee Conflict of Interest Policy.) Intellectual property developed
and owned by the University may not be transferred by University employees while
engaged in outside consulting. All inventions developed by a UW employee—even
as a consultant—must be disclosed to the University pursuant to the Patent,
Invention, and Copyright Policy from the University
Handbook, Volume Four, Part V, Chapter 7. The University will have no
interest in the invention if no equipment, supplies, facilities, or funds owned
or controlled by the UW were used to develop it, and the invention is not within
the scope of work of the employee.
Because of the sometimes complicated approval and conflict of interest
reviews, companies may wish to consider other opportunities to interact
with UW experts or access UW innovations. Other types of research relationships
may clarify the ownership and management of resultant intellectual property
and give companies broader access to UW's resources. Companies considering
hiring a consultant from the UW should also think about licensing
UW technology or sponsoring research through the Office of Sponsored
Programs (OSP).
The following documents govern consultancies assumed by a UW faculty
or staff. UW employees and companies interested in pursuing a consulting
relationship should become familiar with the UW policies that govern consulting
by UW employees.
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