Stockholm University places great emphasis on lecturers’ ability to work with players outside the University, known as “the third task”, and lecturers even have a statutory right to take on secondary employment. This regulation concerning lecturers’ research and development work alongside their principal employment – “secondary R&D jobs” – can be seen as an expression of the positive aspects of university lecturers taking on assignments within their subject area outside their own higher education institution. Examples of such “secondary R&D jobs” are scientific consultancy and consultancy assignments within the researcher’s subject area, researchers’ utilisation of their own inventions within their subject area, and membership of the board of directors of a company with operations linked to the researcher’s subject area.
However, secondary employment must not harm public confidence in the University. Any secondary employment must be kept clearly separate from the lecturer’s own work for the University. In other respects, lecturers are subject to the same rules and restrictions as the University’s other staff members.
Moreover, some forms of secondary employment are not compatible with a position as a university lecturer. Such non-permissible secondary employment can be divided into three types: confidence-harming, work-hindering and competing secondary employment.
Lecturers have an obligation to declare any subject-related secondary employment. Lecturers must notify their immediate superior of such secondary employment. A lecturer who is unsure whether a secondary job might be regarded as non-permissible should discuss the matter with his or her superior.
The University’s regulations state that managers must inform their staff of the implications of the current provisions concerning secondary employment and notify staff members with regard to secondary jobs. Staff members have the right to request written notification as to whether a secondary job is permissible.
Universities and colleges have a special obligation to document the notifications submitted regarding secondary employment. This documentation must be structured so that it is possible to follow each lecturer's secondary jobs.
Some activities performed outside Stockholm University are regarded as part of the employee’s job, and are not covered by the notification duty regarding subject-related secondary employment. Examples of such activities include giving lectures or presenting papers at other higher education institutes, examining doctoral students at other higher education institutes, acting as an expert in connection with appointments to lecturer positions at other higher education institutes, participating in scientific debates on television and radio and in newspapers, and presenting the lecturer’s own research at conferences held outside the University.