Fulvio Esposito Plenary Presentation

“Where have we come from,
where are we now,
and where are we going to….?”
Fulvio Esposito
ERA Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility
University of Camerino, Italy
More than 300 organisations, representing more than 1 000 research performing/funding
institutions, have endorsed the Charter and Code (C&C) principles.
To optimise and spread awareness & implementation of the C&C, in 2008 the Council of the EU
launched the European Partnership for Researchers (EPR), a ‘simplified’ version of the C&C,
focusing on 4 key priority areas:
•
systematically open recruitment;
•
meet the social security and supplementary pensions needs of mobile researchers;
•
provide attractive employment and working conditions;
•
enhance the training, skills and experience of researchers.
The HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGY FOR RESEARCHERS and its ‘LOGO’
The EPR was supplemented with a ‘support tool’, aimed at providing
recognition of the systematic uptake of the C&C and hence at increasing the
transparency of employment conditions and the attractiveness of a research
institution (and of the research professions): the Human Resources Strategy
for Researchers (HRS4R)
acknowledged
Human Resources
Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R), incorporating the C&C.
•
21 MS and AC (+ the ESF)…
•
72/132 (55%) from UK!
Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013
Divergence in innovation performance among the EU27 MS
IUS 2013
* Spread
in convergence is measured by
the ratio of the standard deviation and
the average performance of EU27 MS
Researchers per thousand labour force
T
as a share of the labour force, is nearly 50% higher in the US and 60%
more in Japan, with respect to Europe, where the spread among countries is exceedingly wide.
But it is not just a matter of numbers
Two observations:
A) the US and Japan have more than 1.5x as many researchers per thousand in the private sector
than does the EU (again with a huge spread among countries);
B) in Europe, many researchers are facing long periods of unemployment and insecurity.
Proportion of researchers in the private sector
A possible/plausible explanation:
an imperfect matching between demand and supply of research(ers)
A possible/plausible re-action:
• better training, skills and experience
• more open recruitment and transparent careers paths
• more attractive working and social security conditions
i.e. implement the C&C principles to achieve a more open and equitable
labour market for researchers
TRANSLATING INTO PRACTICE…
Many European countries designed measures aimed at improving training, skills & experience of
researchers, but these appears to be still confined within a purely national (and often purely
academic) perspective, i.e. they are still missing a coherent European dimension.
This was the rationale behind the Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training (PIDT), endorsed by
the most important stakeholders of the European research community:
1) Research Excellence, 2) Attractive Institutional Environment, 3) Interdisciplinary Research Options,
4) Exposure to industry and other relevant employment sectors, 5) International networking,
6) Transferable skills training, 7) Quality Assurance
Academic careers in general
Acad. careers in physical sciences and engineering
is it time to consider some more ‘compelling’ approach (e.g. incentives for
research institutions presenting innovative concepts for the rapid
implementation of ERA principles)?