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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.

Finding a consultant

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:

• Office of Research
• UW TechTransfer
• Washington Technology Center

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.

Receiving approval for a consulting relationship

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).

Resources for Consultants from the UW

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.

• Outside Professional Work Policy from the University Handbook, Volume Four, Part V, Chapter 6.
• Employee Conflict of Interest from the University Handbook, Volume Four, Part V, Chapter 2.
• Ethics in Public Service, Chapter 42.52, Revised Code of Washington published by the Executive Ethics Board of Washington State.
• Personal Use of University Facilities From the UW Administrative Policy Statement