Consultancies, editorial work, spin-out companies and other activities

Remember to complete form OA1 and submit it to the Head of Department for consideration

 You may decide to capitalise on your research by creating a spin-out company, or the idea of being a consultant might appeal to you.  You are entitled to apply for up to 30 days per academic year (defined as 1 October - 30 September), but all details must be supplied to the Head of Department for approval before the activity commences.  The University provides a webpage dedicated to Holding Outside Appointments which provides further guidance.  All applications to engage with an Outside Consultancy must be made using Form OA1.  If you are using Oxford University Innovation, they will provide form OA1 for you, and help you to complete it, otherwise you will need to download it yourself, using the 'Holding Outside Appointments' link above (right hand column, '>OA1 Form (DOC)'.  The form should have 'v1.4 Jul 2023' highlighted in yellow on the top right hand corner of each page.   

In the case of spin-out companies, a Conflict of Interest Statement will need to be produced and authorised.  Once approved, the Conflict of Interest statement must be shared (at commencement and on an annual basis, even if the content has not changed) with your research group, as a means of maintaining transparency.  A suggested form of wording to use for your Conflict of Interest statement was composed during April 2022 by Mr Ian Bishop (former Head of Administration and Finance) after consultation with Research Services and it is available in the 'Forms and Documents' section of the Materials Information Centre. 

As mentioned above, an option you may choose to take up, to help you with the process (including approaching the Head of Department with details of your proposal), is to instruct Oxford University Innovation (OUI) to do this for you.  Attached below is a presentation from Mr Gurinder Punn explaining the OUI process and their 10% charge.  

If you would like to discuss any potential spin-out or consultancy with OUI, Gurinder will be pleased to hear from you: gurinder.punn@innovation.ox.ac.uk.