Diapositiva 1

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the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and
Junior Researchers
Eurodoc interactions and collaboration between
doctoral candidates and early career researchers
at international level
Sarah Cruso Delegato italiano in Eurodoc
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What is eurodoc ?
Eurodoc is the federation of the national
associations of PhD candidates and young
researchers in Europe
Members
Individual contacts
Applying for membership
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Objectives of Eurodoc

• ? to represent the Early Stage Researchers (ESRs)
  and post-docs at the European level
• ? to promote excellence in research
• to make Europe a more attractive environment for
     research
• ? to be a common platform for the discussion of
     current and future problems of science policy,
  its    implementation and the consequences for
  young    researchers

www.eurodoc.net
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Why was eurodoc founded ?

• Bologna declaration, 1999
• Lisbon strategy, 2000, "3 objective" in RD
• Knowledge-based society a challenge for Europe

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European frame

• The European dimension is becoming increasingly
  important at the national level and Young
  Researchers are a specific and key target of
  policies.
• THE BOLOGNA PROCESS
• Aims at creating the European Higher Education
  Area (EHEA)
• Started in 1998, only lately focusing on the
  3rd level
• Grassroots process started and driven by the
  universities through the European University
  Association (EUA)
• Mobility through converging higher education
  systems
• Competitiveness Attractiveness of higher
  education stakeholders
• Salzburg declaration (Eurodoc input)
• Tries to catch up with Lisbon process

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Ministers consider it necessary to go
beyond the present focus on two main cycles of
higher education to include the doctoral level as
the third cycle in the Bologna Process.
Ministers call for increased mobility at the
doctoral and postdoctoral levels and encourage
the institutions concerned to increase their
cooperation in doctoral studies and the training
of young researchers.
Berlin Communiqué of Ministers, 19th september
2003
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The Salzburg declaration

• THE BACKGROUND
• 2005 conference in Salzburg (Austria) by EUA
  Eurodoc heavily involved (associated organiser).
• First steps to define a common approach to PhD
  training in Europe lays down the basis for
  mobility and calls for mobility at the PhD level.
• THE DECLARATION
• i. Doctoral training core component is
  advancement of knowledge through original
  research
• ii. research training designed to include
  professional career development.
• iv. Doctoral candidates as early stage
  researchers professionals with commensurate
  rights.
• v. Supervision and assessment based on a
  transparent contractual framework of shared
  responsibilities.
• vii. Duration 3-4 years full-time as a rule.
• ix. Increasing mobility (geographical,
  interdisciplinary and intersectoral)
• x. Ensuring appropriate funding (quality of
  doctoral programmes).

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Eurodoc history main steps

• PhD candidates associations from Europe met in
  Uppsala, Sweden, in February 2001
• Need for an official frame of representation and
  discussion at the European level
• ? February 2002 Foundation and 1st annual
  meeting in Girona, Spain (informal basis)
• March 2005 Eurodoc was formally estblished in
  Strasbourg, France

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How does eurodoc work ?

• ? 7-member Board
• ? Annual Conference (Eurodoc 2006 Bologna)
• ? Delegates representing countries from all
  Europe
• ? Workgroups for a number of priority issues
• ? Supervision Training
• ? International Mobility
• ? Professional Future
• ? Labour Conditions
• ? Gender Equality
• ? Communication

www.eurodoc.net
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The Main Areas of Concern

• Quality of Education and Supervision
• Labour Conditions
• Mobility
• Future Career Prospects

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Quality of Education

• Need for the supervisor and researcher to work
  actively to support the researchers training
  needs.
• Need for access to a broad range of training to
  develop complementary skills
• Facilitated by the relation between the doctoral
  school and the research environment - both have
  important complimentary roles.

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Quality of Education

• More PhD candidates may lead to
• Increase in taught courses
• Standardised projects
• Less individuality
• Even higher student/supervisor ratio
• Eurodoc answer Supervision and Training Working
  Group

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Supervision and Training Working Groups aims

• sharing the experience of people doing their
  thesis under different PhD supervision system.
  Focusing in the pros and cons of them (regualted
  VS open) and bringing new ideas. Tools
  questionnaires
• Implementing the European Researcher Charter and
  the involvement of national associations (Eurodoc
  input played a significant role)

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Labour Conditions

• Young researcher represent a significatn
  proportion of the labour workforce in reserarch.
  In spite of this, there is no commone regulation
  to ensure the quality of training, research and
  working conditions for young reserchers.

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Comparative table on roles and working conditions
of PhD candidates. (Eurodoc/FJI 2003.)
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Labour Conditions WG

• The main aim is to provide a series of Guidelines
  to ensure adequate regulation of the working
  conditions.
• To help defining auch regulations, te
  estblishment of a specific status for PhD
  candidates must be considered. This status should
  act so as to provide a contractual framework and
  address the issue of funding and social benefit
  (social security, pension, parental level)

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What kind of mobility ?

• Mobility is desirable since moving back and forth
  between countries, job sectors or scientific
  fields can be very profitable for
• the researcher
• the employer/institution
• the research or HE system/country.
• Geographic mobility
• Within the EU/Europe
• From outside the EU/Europe (non-European
  nationals)
• Outside the EU/Europe and Back (EU/European
  nationals)
• Intersectorial mobility
• The career of a young researcher can include work
  in different sectors
• Private companies
• Higher public administration
• Other sectors (such as charities)
• Thematic mobility
• Particularly important in science. Allows to
  improve knowledge and technical skills and
  develop original approaches

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International Mobility Working Group

• To promote mobility Eurodoc has joined forces
  with MCFA (marie Curie Fellowship association).
  We have jointly organized the ESRM2004 conference
  in Lison in wich we discussed the problem faced
  by ESRs when considering mobility. A central
  goal of the conference was to show several
  examples of good practise in which organisations
  or institutions provide mobility plans that avoid
  those problems.

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Future Career ProspectsAcademic Career

• The current system with short term contracts and
  job insecurity is not very attractive to junior
  researchers.
• Will the funding be much more focussed on applied
  research neglecting other research areas?
• Are there clear stages defined in academia that
  are recognised universally?

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Professional future working Groups focus and
questions

• The academic career path is no longer the
  dominant career path Are the PhD education
  prepared for that?
• Will the increase in PhD candidates lower the
  quality of the PhD education?
• Will PhD ever get recognized as proffessionals?

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Cooperation and contacts
? European Commission http//europa.eu.int/comm/
? Marie Currie Fellowship Association
MCFA http//www.mariecurie.org/ ?
Euroscience http//www.euroscience.org/ ?
European University Association http//www.eua.be
/
www.eurodoc.net
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Conclusions Eurodoc work from the national to
the international level To share ideas, promote
collaboration, create a new European system How
to join Eurodoc ?

• Via EAYS
• For eligible young researchers
• Via other national member or observer
  organisations
• Other countries
• See the list of organisations on the website
• possibility to create new national organisations
  and join
• Via the workgroups
• Contact the coordinators
• See website for details

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Grazie a tutti voi per l'attenzione

• www.eurodoc.net

www.dottorato.it