Guidelines for developing sustainable international scientific collaborations
Non-compliance with contracts
The collaborators of UNIGE shall comply with the regulations applicable to UNIGE when collaborating with international partners. In the general area of contracts, it includes but is not limited to:
- Directive “Concluding collaborative research agreements and service mandate” ;
- Directive “Signature d’une commande, d’un contrat ou d’un accord au nom de l’Université” ;
- Directive “Dons, legs et subsides”
Even if collaboration agreements are correctly drafted in order to cover all the aspects of the partnership, it happens that one of the parties do not comply with the contracts. The consequences can sometimes be serious and there must be a possibility to quickly stop the damaging practices. Legal prosecution is very seldom activated; in order to avoid non-compliance, it is preferred to build mutual trust and understanding between the partners. Expectations about sensitive issues must be clarified before the beginning of the collaboration and then overtly and regularly discussed as soon as they arise.