Emeritus Policy

The Emeritus Titles that can be awarded by the University are as follows: 

To be awarded the title of Emeritus Full Professor or Emeritus Professor the person to whom it is to be awarded must satisfy certain criteria as detailed below.

To be awarded the title of Emeritus Full Professor or Emeritus Professor, the person to whom it is to be awarded must satisfy the following criteria:

• Emeritus appointees must be employed by the University at the time of application for the award.
• They must, on the date of retirement, be of the rank of Full Professor or Professor and have held that rank for at least five years before that date.
• They must be recognised and respected as a national and/or international expert in their field.
• They must have evidenced and sustained an exceptional contribution to DCU and its academic and other activities.
• The appointee will not hold a comparable position at any other institution.
• During the course of their career at DCU,  they must have maintained the highest standards in how they act and behave in line with the University's Employee Code of Conduct.

The title ‘Emeritus’ is typically awarded for an initial period of three years. Subject to the approval of the Executive Dean of Faculty and the Vice President for People, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (VPP EDI), this can be extended every 3 years thereafter upon application by the Executive Dean at least three months before the current award expires.

• The process should be initiated at least six months before the employee’s date of retirement and must be completed by the employee’s effective date of retirement.
• The process to award the title will normally be initiated by the Executive Dean of the Faculty in which the individual works in line with the procedures outlined in the policy toolkit.
• In exceptional circumstances the President may initiate an Emeritus application, at the request of a member of staff other than the Executive Dean, and after consultation with the Executive Dean.
• The award of the Emeritus title is first approved by the University Executive and subsequently by the Governing Authority.
• Academic colleagues awarded the Emeritus title will have the following benefits:
  • Automatic eligibility for a dcu.ie digital identity on the same basis as for serving staff in line with the DCU Digital Identity and Retention Policy.
  • Use of the title awarded on any correspondence and publications.
• Academic colleagues awarded the title of Emeritus’ are not:
  • employees of the University and do not have employee status or any contractual entitlements.
  • entitled to a dedicated office or laboratory.
  • entitled to have any academic role in the governance of the University or any of its academic units.
  • eligible to supervise PhD students unless in a secondary capacity and under the lead supervision of a DCU academic staff member as set down in the DCU Postgraduate Research: Academic Regulations and Guidelines.
  • eligible to act as a lead PI unless in a co-PI capacity with the prior approval of the relevant Executive Dean.
  • eligible to expenses for travel or any research related activity without the prior approval of the Executive Dean.
  • permitted to allocate any monies from research funding as this will be determined by the relevant Executive Dean.

Procedure for Processing

The procedure for processing Emeritus Full Professor and Emeritus Professor can be found at this link.

Withdrawal of the Emeritus Title 

The University reserves the right to remove the awarded title in the event that the activities or actions of the title holder create a risk of reputational damage to the University. Details concerning the withdrawal of the Emeritus awarded title can be found at this link.