Coimbra Group at EU Conference on Research Careers 2024
26 November 2024
The Coimbra Group represented by Office Director Emmanuelle Gardan attended the second Conference on Research Careers organised by the European Commission in Brussels on 26 November. Prof Robert Dijkgraaf, Former Minister of Education, Culture and Science in The Netherlands, delivered the first keynote. He notably highlighted a number of factors to create an attractive research culture:
- Recognition of diverse carrer paths
- Reward diverse roles using multiple metrics
- Expansion vs inclusion for underrepresented groups
- Eliminate artificial distinction between professional categories
- Empower and involve the next generation for Europe
In the second keynote, Prof Manuel Heitor, Former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education in Portugal, and Chair of the EU expert group evaluating Horizon Europe and setting up priorities for FP10, emphasized some of the expert group’s recent report (“Align, Act, Accelerate“)’s key recommendations for enhancing the attractiveness of research careers in Europe. He notably outlined the recommendation number 5, for the European Commission to create a new instrument under the existing MSCA’s co-funding mechanism to foster the careers of young researchers: “Choose Europe”. The expert group suggests starting wih a pilot experimentation in 2025 already.
The other presentations in the plenary session were delivered by policy officers from DG RTD, altogether providing a rich and comprehensive overview of the achievements of the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 directly or indirectly connected to research careers. All presentaions may be downloaded from the Coimbra Group Intranet (for CG members only). A replay of the conference is available for all on the Conference website here.
After the plenary session, the Coimbra Group, jointly with Portugal (as both ERA Action 4 co-sponsors) and the European Commission, hosted a dedicated session on ERA Action 4 “Attractive Research Careers” where the delegates from the EU member states, associated countries and stakeholders commited to ERA Action 4 brainstormed constructively on possible actions to include in the next framework programme FP10 and on first ideas for the content of the future ERA Act when it comes to research careers. The discussion was inspired by bold input from Prof Robert Dijkgraaf, Prof Manuel Heitor and EU-LIFE Executive Director Marta Agostinho, which led to dynamic and prospective exchange of views.