Euroscience Open Forum 2012

Give a voice to researchers on European research careers

The Innovation Union flagship initiative of October 2010 underlined the importance of human resources and called for a European Research Area (ERA) to be established by 2014 and to be at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy. This was endorsed by the European Council in February 2011.

The Commission has already taken a series of initiatives to strengthen the research profession in Europe in close cooperation with the Member States.

Initiatives include:

• EURAXESS - Researchers in Motion
• The Institutional Human Resources Strategy (HRS4R)
• Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training
• European Framework for Research Careers
• Pan-European Pension Fund for Researchers

The session aims at both giving an overview of European initiatives for researcher careers (e.g. open labour market for researchers, gender balance, excellence in research….).and mobility, and setting up an on-going dialogue with European researchers, including those not present at the workshop. The objective is to empower researchers by providing them with constant opportunities to voice their ideas, insight and expectations regarding research careers and their mobility experience in Europe. In turn, this will enable the Commission to better take into account their concerns and feed them back into EU strategies and initiatives, which will also bring more transparency and openness to the overall policy-making process.

At the beginning of the session, the audience will be updated on existing initiatives of the European Commission (e.g. EURAXESS) and the "ideal" career path of a researcher. Keynote will be given by Ellen Pearce.

During the session, the European Commission, researchers and the audience will discuss topics related to career development and mobility of researchers. To further feed discussions, during the session participants will be invited to post additional ideas on a specific on-line forum conceived to voice their ideas and opinions. A summary of the main input will be published at the EURAXESS portal.