A group of research organisations sent a Young Research Careers Manifesto to European Commissioner for Research Mariya Gabriel on Tuesday 10 January.
It calls for the monitoring of the situation of young researchers at European level, the improvement of their working conditions, the enhancement of research careers in the third sector and the involvement of national funding agencies in cooperation with the European Commission. The project was initiated by Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, former President of the European Research Council (ERC), and Manuel Heitor, former Portuguese Research Minister, and was supported by the Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE), Ciencia Viva and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
The Commissioner welcomed the manifesto, saying it had the potential to become “an effective tool” and “trigger the momentum for a co-creation effort”.
Indeed, Mariya Gabriel called on research actors, both public and private, and public authorities to come together to “co-designing adequate instruments that can align with multiple objectives”. She mentioned, among other things, “coordinated investments” to address obstacles for young researchers, the “modernisation of research assessment systems”, “funded research careers underpinning European knowledge networks” and measures to “diversify research career paths by for example promoting mobility between academia and industry”.
She also stressed that the Commission would work on a new strategic plan for 2025-2027 in the next 6 to 12 months. In parallel, it is exploring “the possibilities to launch a pilot call in 2024 in Horizon Europe to involve the academic sector, industry, governmental agencies and other research innovation actors”, she said. This call, she said, should cover four pillars: training, career development, international orientation and collaboration between the academic sector, and other research actors.
Read the manifesto: https://aeur.eu/f/4u9 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)