Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EURAXESS TOP III (Making European research careers more attractive by developing new services and enhancing the current services of the EURAXESS network – EURAXESS TOPIII)

Teaser

The EURAXESS Services network, tailored to the needs of “researchers in motion”, has been set up by the European Commission and has been operating within this policy context for 10 years. Currently, the EURAXESS network offers services in 18 different topics related to the...

Summary

The EURAXESS Services network, tailored to the needs of “researchers in motion”, has been set up by the European Commission and has been operating within this policy context for 10 years. Currently, the EURAXESS network offers services in 18 different topics related to the mobility and career development of researchers. A recently introduced area of high priority for EURAXESS Services has been assisting the professional development of researchers of any career stage and scientific area.

In line with the above context, EURAXESS TOP III project had the following specific objectives:
• Develop and offer new services in line with the call objectives as well as the general objectives of the Science with and for Society part of the current Horizon 2020 work programme.
• Build on the results of the former EURAXESS projects, most notably the TOP II and EURAXESS IU projects, and ensure the continuity and take-up of services and products provided therein by the whole EURAXESS network.
• Strengthen and consolidate the overall work of EURAXESS network members, assuring that the level of existing services is consistent and high.

The project, on the one hand, focused on developing and testing innovative career management services for researchers to be offered as part of the EURAXESS service portfolio. On the other hand, the project worked to strengthen the services already being offered by members of the EURAXESS network to mobile researchers. Through this dual approach, the project strives to answer the specific challenge of making scientific careers in European research institutions more attractive for European researchers at any career stage, irrespective of scientific background, who are facing career decisions as well as for non-European researchers who are contemplating moving to Europe for part of their career. An increased number of capacity building, networking, service consolidation and quality assessment activities have been made available to the whole network of the EURAXESS services members with the aim to increase the service level of the network, disseminate new and innovative service practices and sustain the resulting uniformly high level of assistance offered for the benefit of the research community.

Through the career management services being integrated into the EURAXESS service portfolio and by addressing researchers at all career stages including young people at higher education institutions, the project contributed to the aims of recruiting new talent for science and improving access to scientific careers.

Work performed

Project activities addressed new and current areas of operation of the EURAXESS network for the benefit of both non-mobile and mobile researchers. The goal of these activities is providing opportunities for the network members at all levels in EURAXESS, both through their national coordinators (the BHOs) and directly, to:
• consolidate their current services offered to researchers;
• plan and introduce new services gradually;
• utilise and ensure institutional support from their home institutions for their continuous professional operation;
• access training / networking opportunities and good practices;
• cooperate with other networks for higher impact; and
• contribute to a better definition of the future of the EURAXESS network and a lasting take-up of the results of the EURAXESS TOP III project.

Another set of activities is devoted to the development, testing and pilot introduction of new services on researchers’ career development within the EURAXESS network. Targeting researchers, these activities focus on:
• making available hands-on resources to assist researchers with their decisions related to their career;
• creating a more welcoming environment for researchers including both the institutional context and private life;
• integrating incoming third country researchers and reaching out to researchers beyond the EU; and
• assisting researchers within and outside academia, most notably the private sector;
• offering a new, consistent, adaptable and flexible model for integrating career development into the EURAXESS service model;

Finally, viewing the whole of the EURAXESS network, the project contributed to
• consolidating the current EURAXESS services portfolio, be it personal or electronic;
• enabling the further capacity building of the EURAXESS network members and meeting the challenge posed by staff turnover by trainings, twinning and study visits;
• opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange with a wide range of other networks;
• promoting the EURAXESS network among key stakeholders in a more efficient manner;
• preparing the network for the implementation of a consistent quality assurance and monitoring system operating on several levels; and
• working out a future vision for EURAXESS in light of the policy goals of the EC set for the period up to 2020.

An internal, horizontal funding scheme for support activities, carried out within the national networks themselves was in operation as a tested and successful mechanism refined in previous EURAXESS projects. Named the Network Call, this was available for all national EURAXESS networks in an easily manageable yet responsibly designed format administered within the framework of the project. Overall, 39 out of 40 national EURAXESS networks participated in the activities of this funding scheme that utilised 21.5% of the project budget.
By mid-2018, all 40 national EURAXESS portals have been fully redesigned and now work either technically or content-wise integrated with the European EURAXESS portal available at https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu. The overall monthly page views of the portal pages exceed 1.2 million/month.

Final results

The project involved and engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders by a consortium representing all the national EURAXESS networks through their Bridgehead Organisations. This ensured effectively reaching out to around 350 EURAXESS network member institutions representing a wide variety of research universities, non-profit research centres, private research institutions and enterprises including SMEs. Links were also strengthened or newly built with government agencies and other policy-making bodies responsible for research and innovation. During the project lifetime, more than 700 staff members have directly benefited from the project outcomes.
Between January 2017 and June 2018, around 4.6 million researchers at various career stages, irrespective of their scientific background or country of origin, working in Europe or moving to Europe, benefited from the new or enhanced services of EURAXESS. This contributes to a better cross-national and international circulation of researchers, a better match of existing talent and R&I needs throughout Europe, and, in the longer term, results in a higher percentage of researchers in the active population, boosting European research competitiveness.

Website & more info

More info: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/.