ESF Member Organisation Fora on European Alliance for Research Career Development Laura Marin, Member and Policy relations, ESF ENRC meeting, Brussels, 30 October 2012
Topics 1. Background on ESF MO Fora 2. Context 3. Activity of the ESF MO Forum of Research Careers Development 4. Career Tracking 5. Pan European RDF 2
About European Science Foundation ESF is common platform for its 78 Member Organisations research funding organisations research performing organisations academies in 30 European countries To: advance European research explore new directions for research at the European level 3
Published in 2009 10 Actions: ESF Member Organisation Fora & the ERA Road Map Actions Science Policy and Strategy 1. strengthen the relations between science, society and the private sector 2. promote European research careers 3. develop scientific foresight for joint strategy 4. create a European Grant Union 5. address peer review of proposals 6. develop common approaches to ex-post evaluation 7. create ERA Connect and Regional Clusters of Excellence 8. develop shared funding and exploitation of research infrastructure 9. implement common policy on Open Access 10.connect European research to the world 4
ESF Member Organisation Fora: committees to address the Roadmap actions Output-oriented discussion platforms for Member Organisations to develop joint actions on specific issues, involving others as appropriate To contribute to strategy development and/or lead to the development of o Good practice o Common procedures o Joint activities Recent results: European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity European Peer Review Guide Research Careers in Europe Landscape and Horizons 5 www.esf.org/mo-fora
MO Forum on European Alliance on Research Career Development Aim Implementable recommendations in order to make Europe an attractive place to work as a researcher. Objectives Ensuring career and professional skills development for researchers, including international or inter-sectoral mobility Creating attractive conditions for a research career Providing equal playing fields for researchers of all backgrounds. Participation 21 member organisations (European Research Councils) from 19 countries. Observers 7: European Commission, ERC, EUA, LERU, ALLEA, Vitae Working Groups (Chair: Iain Cameron, RCUK) WG1 Research careers: Taxonomy and Tracking (Chair: Ulrike Kohl, FNR) WG2 Researcher skills (Chair: Marie-Claude Marx, FNR Luxembourg / Maria Starborg, VR) WG3 Mobility (Chair: Hans Borchgrewink, The Research Council of Norway) 6
MO FORUM - Members Country Austria Austria Belgium Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Ireland Italy Luxembourg Norway Slovak Republic Spain Organisation Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) Danish National Research Foundation (DG) Estonian Science Foundation (ETF) The Academy of Finland German Research Foundation (DFG) Health Research Board National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) National Research Fund (FNR) Research Council of Norway Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV) Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) France: INRA Poland Sweden Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom 7 Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS) Observers Swedish Research Council (VR) European Commission (EC) Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) ALL European Academies (ALLEA) The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey European University Association (EUA) (TUBITAK) League of European Research Universities (LERU) Research Councils UK European Research Council (ERC) The Foundation for Polish Science (Poland) VITAE (UK)
MO Forum Activities 1 Survey of Forum members: This investigated the respective organisations policies and promising practices (published January 2012) 8
MO Forum Activities 2 Mobility: The Forum will advocate at least four major forms of mobility (geographic, intersectoral, interdisciplinary, virtual) based on a expert workshop held in May 2012. The results will be published in Science Policy Briefing New Concepts of Mobility (tbp January 2013) 9
MO Forum Activities 3 Researchers' Professional Development: A pilot project, to assess the applicability across Europe of a generic framework for the professional development of researchers based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework. Overall aims: raise awareness of the importance of continuous professional development of researchers at all career stages develop a guide The results are published (September 2012) in the report: A pan-european professional development framework for researchers - A feasibility study by the ESF Member Organisation Forum 10
The report underlines that the Vitae RDF can be used as good practice example, validates the relevance of the RDF for researchers across Europe and makes recommendations on next steps including by the European Commission. General recommendations Efforts to promote the concept and importance of researchers professional development Efforts to offer researchers a structure to guide them in their reflections on their skills, development and role as researcher Adequate training and development at all career levels
Suggestions of specific recommendations The RDF has potential to provide a single European language for describing researchers skills and attributes and could be discussed for a European Researcher Development Framework, however, the following recommendations should be considered: RDF needs to be further developed with additional supporting resources, FAQs etc for a wider European audience A representative trial by an independent party should be envisaged to promote acceptance at a European level
MO Forum Activities 4 Career Tracking: An international pioneering workshop How to track researchers careers on career tracking systems was co-sponsored with FNR Luxembourg and held in Luxembourg on 9/10 February 2012. The report (to be published autumn 2012) will provide a framework for future career tracking studies and advocates a joint initiative to promote career tracking studies across Europe. 13
Forum WG I: Researcher Careers International Workshop: "How to Track Researchers' Careers Luxembourg, 9-10 Feburary 2012 http://www.researcherscareers.eu Over 100 participants from Europe, Asia, Africa, US 14
Forum WG I: Researcher Careers "How to Track Researchers' Careers report to be published Nov. Conceptual framework for tracking studies Input/throughput: Tracking the Quality of Doctoral Training and Researchers Skills Output: Tracking to find out where researchers move in their careers Outcome: Tracking for Accountability and Efficiency Joint initiative to promote career tracking across Europe Achieve a coherent aproach across Europe Develop a platform on statistical infomration on research careers and news approaches to tracking Develop a Career Observatory 15
Developing Research Careers In and Beyond Europe: Enabling Observing Guiding and Going Global A Report by the ESF Member Organisation Forum European Alliance on Research Career Development (EARCD) TBP November 2012 Summary of key recommendations: Enabling: creating a European Researcher Development Framework Observing: setting up an International Platform for Researcher Career Tracking and Monitoring Guiding: establishing guidelines to acknowledge new concepts of researcher mobility (international, intersectoral, interdisciplinary, virtual) Going Global: working towards a Global Forum for Research Career Development. 16
Next steps: International Conference: Oslo, April 2013 Developing Research Careers In and Beyond Europe 17
Thank you! More info: http://www.esf.org/activities/mo-fora/esf-memberorganisation-forum-on-european-alliance-on-researchcareer-development.html 18