University Adjunct and Clinical Titles

The objective of adjunct and clinical academic titles is to provide recognition by the University to persons who make a regular and significant contribution to the activities of the University.

Appointment to an adjunct or clinical position may recognise academic achievement, or professional or career achievements in industry or the community, that are of relevance to the work of the University. Clinical appointments1 are made only in those cases where the appointee has contact with patients in a bedside or clinical setting.

An appointment, and the level at which it is made, should normally correspond to the academic achievements or professional/career achievements of the nominee. If the nominee has held a recent academic title at a university, the title conferred will not normally be at a higher level than that previously held. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Dean of the Faculty may write to the Vice-Chancellor seeking a higher status.

Adjunct titles used for persons in all faculties, including the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, who are not in clinical roles are –

• Adjunct Lecturer
• Adjunct Senior Lecturer
• Adjunct Associate Professor
• Adjunct Professor

or

• Adjunct Teaching Fellow (equivalent to Lecturer)
• Adjunct Senior Teaching Fellow (equivalent to Senior Lecturer and above)
• Adjunct Research Fellow
• Adjunct Senior Research Fellow

Clinical titles1 used for persons in all faculties who are in clinical roles are –

• Clinical Lecturer
• Clinical Senior Lecturer
• Clinical Associate Professor
• Clinical Professor

1 Clinical titles are to be considered only for practitioners who diagnose and/or treat patients in bedside or clinical settings, including: physicians, nurses, dentists, podiatrists, pharmacists, psychologists and other allied health professionals. They are not to be considered for alternative health practitioners.

Nominations for clinical and adjunct appointments, including appointments to any Centre that forms part of a School, will ordinarily be made by either the Head of the School or the Dean of the Faculty. Where a Centre sits under a Faculty, the Centre’s Director or the Dean of the Faculty is responsible for the nomination. Nominations for a title below that of Adjunct or Clinical Associate Professor are considered by the Dean, who may refer any particular nomination to the Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee. Any disagreements will be resolved at the level of the Vice-Chancellor.

The nomination is to include, where appropriate:

1. details of the nominee’s –
   • professional and academic qualifications;
   • academic achievements;
   • achievements in clinical work and research;
   • professional/career achievements;
2. justification for the appointment in relation to the nominee’s contribution to teaching, research and community activities integral to the University; and
3. a recommendation on the level of appointment.

Nominations can occur at any time and are to be considered on a case by case basis. A staff member in one faculty cannot be made a clinical or adjunct staff member in another faculty. This provision is not intended to prevent cross-faculty clinical or adjunct appointments for non-UWA employees under terms agreed upon by the relevant deans. In such situations, one dean has responsibility for nomination and for recording the joint agreement.

The Dean has the authority to confer adjunct and clinical titles other than those of Adjunct Professor and Clinical Professor which can be conferred only by the Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the relevant Dean in accordance with 19.7. Recommendations for the award of the title of Adjunct or Clinical Associate Professor are made to the Dean by the Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee.

Nominations for the title of Adjunct or Clinical Associate Professor or above are forwarded to the relevant Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee for consideration. Nominations for a title below that of Clinical or Adjunct Associate Professor are considered by the Dean, who may refer any particular nomination to the Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee.

The Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee comprises:

• the Dean as Chair;
• two professors elected from and by the faculty;
• the Chair of the Academic Board or nominee; and
• the Chair of the Academic Promotions Committee or nominee.

In cases where a Faculty other than the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences is considering making a clinical appointment, the Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee must include a professor from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences appointed by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.

The Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee decides –

1. whether or not to seek further advice (for example, from external assessors);
2. whether or not to recommend appointment; and
3. if appointment is to be recommended, the level of appointment to be recommended.

The recommendations of the Faculty Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee are made to the Dean. For appointments other than those of Adjunct or Clinical Professor, the Dean may approve and subsequently report to the Vice-Chancellor. In the case of adjunct or clinical professorial titles, the recommendations of the Dean (through the Adjunct and Clinical Titles Committee) are referred to the Vice-Chancellor for approval.

Letters of appointment are prepared by Human Resources and copies sent to other appropriate persons, for example in the case of clinical titles, to hospital personnel.

Adjunct and Clinical titles may be awarded for up to three years at a time and may be renewed. Applications to renew a title for a further period are to be made by the Dean. Human Resources will send an expiry notice to the Dean a minimum of six weeks prior to the expiry of appointments. New letters of appointment will be offered to re-appointments on the recommendation of the Dean. When it is proposed that a more senior title be granted, the full nomination process will be conducted.

The title awarded may be removed at any time should the special relationship with the University which gave rise to the nomination cease.

In ordinary circumstances adjunct and clinical appointments are not remunerated by the University. However, faculties may wish to offer adjunct and clinical appointments to those external professionals who contribute to their teaching programmes at levels of remuneration less than standard professional rates.

Clinical and adjunct appointments carry the following privileges:

• access, subject to the Head of School’s approval, to school resources;
• UWA Campus Card and the use of the University Library on the same terms as a full-time academic staff member;
• access to opportunities for personal and professional development by way of courses offered through Organisational and Staff Development Services;
• UWA staff parking;
• eligibility for UWA category membership of the University Club; and
• access to UWA corporate rates for QANTAS Club membership

Holders of adjunct and clinical titles who use their titles in grant applications are required to cite The University of Western Australia as their institution in order that any research funds which result from their part in those applications can be directed through the University. Any research outcomes resulting from grants directed through The University of Western Australia must acknowledge the University in the bye-line. Adjunct and clinical appointees are encouraged to acknowledge The University of Western Australia in all of their publications.

Clinical and adjunct academic title holders will become members of the academic schools concerned. For academic activities they will be responsible to the Heal of School who is encouraged to optimise their involvement in school/university activities.

There is no obligation for University resources to be allocated to support this arrangement, however, where research funds are directed through the University in terms of 19.11, it is expected that Heads of Schools will make appropriate infrastructure support available.

If adjunct and clinical title holders act as supervisors of higher degree by research students, they must undertake to act in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for Graduate Research Supervision and the Guidelines on Research Ethics and Research Conduct.

When a position is being advertised by a hospital or other relevant institution, the possibility of a clinical academic appointment can be included with the prior permission of the University. For example “The successful applicant may be appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor by The University of Western Australia.” In these cases, it is essential that the University is represented on the selection committee and that the relevant process as outlined in this policy is followed for having the appropriate clinical title conferred on the appointee.

Arrangements applying to ARC and NHMRC fellows are set out in ARC and NHMRC Fellows. The policy relating to those circumstances in which a proposed principal investigator of a grant, or director of a centre, is not a full-time academic staff member at UWA, or an ARC or NHMRC research fellow is found at Conferral of Academic Titles on Principal Investigators and Directors of Research Centres.

University adjunct or clinical titles are to be used as follows:

In all formal University publications, minutes etc. the full title is used eg Clinical Lecturer X, Adjunct Professor Y.

In all formal University communications the full title is used for the address, but the salutations may be shortened to the more familiar form, eg

• To Adjunct Professor Y – Dear Professor Y
• To Clinical Senior Lecturer Z – Dear Dr Z.

The more familiar form is also used in conversation.

In research grant applications which are made through the University, holders of University titles must use their title and the relevant University school or centre.

Senate Resolution 405/89

Amended: Academic Council Resolution 54/96
Amended: Senate Resolution 85/96
Amended: Senate Resolution 131/07