Public & Science Sweden recently hosted two online events as part of the EU INSPIRING ERA project to support the implementation of the ERA Policy Agenda. Around 300 people from across Europe joined the events to hear about EU-level initiatives, ask questions and share their experiences. Recordings and materials from both events are now available.
On 22 November, The Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment: Why sign it and what does it entail? introduced institutions that have not yet signed the Agreement to the commitments involved and support provided by the CoARA coalition.
To date over 735 leading organisations worldwide, including universities, research centres and funding bodies, have signed the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment – a unified effort to maximise the quality and impact of research on a global scale. The agreement sets a shared direction for improving assessment practices for research, researchers and research performing organisations.
Following an introduction to ERA Policy Action 3: Research Assessment Reform by Jean-Emmanuel Faure, Team leader for Research Assessment. DG R&I, European Commission, Dr Karen Stroobants, Vice-Chair, CoARA gave an overview of the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment and Dr Erzsebet Toth-Czifra, CoARA’s Programme Manager explained about the work of the coalition. Two representatives of signatory organisations, Michal Petr from Masaryk University in Czechia and Dr Matthias Kiesselbach from DFG German Research Foundation, also shared the motivations behind their institutions becoming signatories, how they were implementing the agreement and their experiences of being part of the coalition.
The event was organised in collaboration with CoARA, the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment.
The recording of the event, PPTs and useful links shared at the event are available on the INSPIRING ERA website.
A second event on Boost your career: new EU tools and support for attractive research careers was run on 4 December on the topic of ERA Action 4: Attractive research careers. Aimed at researchers, particularly early career researchers, the event highlighted a range of pan-European initiatives, tools, and support mechanisms developed by the European Commission to help researchers build their career and enhance their mobility.
These included:
- The newly-launched ERA Talent Platform
- European Competence Framework for Researchers (ResearchComp)
- Research and Innovation Careers Observatory (ReICO)
- EURAXESS portal
- The European Charter for Researchers
- RESAVER pension scheme
Short presentations on each of the initiatives were provided by representatives from the European Commission. In a panel discussion, Sebastian Dahle, Advisory Board member and former President of Eurodoc; Karen Vandevelde, Head of Human Resources at the University of Antwerp; and PhD student Anneke Kastelein, winner of the 2024 EU TalentOn competition, provided their perspectives on the EU support available and gave advice and tips to researchers on ways to manage their career development.
The recording of the event, PPTs and useful links shared at the event are available on the INSPIRING ERA website.
Both online events were moderated by Helen Garrison, Project & Communications Manager at Public & Science Sweden and organised by Public & Science as part of its involvement in the EU INSPIRING ERA project.
