Pillar II: Talent ecosystems for attractive early research careers

Expected Outcome:

Proposals will deliver on the impact of “Improved research careers and mobility, based on the European framework for research careers, fostering knowledge flows and career interoperability across sectors and countries”[1], contributing to the ERA Structural Policy “Making research careers more attractive and sustainable, and support mobility”. Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Creation of talent ecosystems[2], as integrated networks where research performing public (including higher education institutions) and private organisations, in particular industrial actors and research-intensive businesses, have established close and coordinated cooperation, fostering among others the employability, skills, career development, mobility, career interoperability, and well-being of researchers and other R&I staff;

• Implementation of organisational changes by participating organisations to mainstream the principles of the European framework for research careers and of the European Charter for Researchers, resulting in researchers benefitting from attractive working and employment conditions and diversified career development opportunities, with spillover effects on other R&I staff;

• Well-connected talent ecosystems through regular cooperation between different projects established under this topic and other ongoing actions[3];

• Enhanced talent ecosystems, enabling a substantial number of researchers and other R&I staff to develop attractive careers and attracting international talents and European diaspora scientists.

Scope:

The topic supports consortia in creating ‘talent ecosystems’, cohesive and interdependent systems, where a balanced composition of both education and training providers and employers of researchers, especially from the non-academic sector, cooperate closely to promote attractive and sustainable careers for researchers, in particular for early-career researchers, tailored to the needs of the research labour market. To facilitate the formation of a balanced consortium, the inclusion of associated partners is encouraged .

The consortium is also encouraged to extend the scope of the talent ecosystem by cooperating with additional organisations outside the consortium during the course of the action.

Applicants should in their proposal, clearly identify the thematic area they plan to address, choosing from the ones outlined below and specify the precise thematic scope within the selected area:

• Area 1. Clean Transition: Energy and transport

• Area 2. Health

• Area 3. Biotech, agriculture and bioeconomy

• Area 4. Digital and AI technologies

• Area 5. Space

Researchers at organisational level and other R&I staff should be trained according to the needs of businesses, industry, and, more generally, to the needs of the labour market, while also ensuring that latest research findings are included in the curricula of early-career researchers. This should help close existing gaps between R&I talents and the labour market, ensuring that businesses and industry benefit from a substantial and highly skilled workforce, especially in emerging sectors with high demand for talent or specific R&I skills.

Cooperation should create conditions for interoperable careers for researchers and for continuous and multidirectional talent circulation between the various sectors within the ecosystem.

The talent ecosystems and the cooperation among participants are expected to be designed to last beyond the duration of the project and benefit researchers and other R&I staff both within the consortium and beyond. Participating organisations are expected to have received the HR Excellence in Research Award[4] or commit to applying the new Charter for Researchers and commit to its implementation (i.e., start the process towards the Award) within the grant duration, as far as relevant for their operations related to the employment of researchers[5]. This action does not support salaries and mobility of individual researchers or teams of researchers.

Activities may include (non-exhaustive list) mapping challenges, developing action plans to bring the organisations in line with the Charter for Researchers, upskilling (including on the basis of ResearchComp and RM Comp), involving the non-academic sector in the design and implementation of training programmes for researchers and other R&I staff, establishing career development and mentoring services, developing services for the well-being of researchers and other R&I staff, creating conditions for interoperable careers between countries and sectors, supporting incoming mobile researchers, networking and relationship-building to connect talent ecosystem partners, and outreach activities to attract international researchers to the ecosystem.

Activities should demonstrate how actions will build on, connect to, make use of, promote and, where appropriate, help improve relevant ERA Talent Platform initiatives, including, EURAXESS, RESAVER, ReICO, ResearchComp and RM Comp, and setting out practical measures to ensure complementarity, interoperability, user signposting and coherent communication. This should ensure that activities reinforce rather than duplicate existing European-level support. This also entails structured cooperation with the already existing pilot projects funded under HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-03 and this projects that will be funded under this call.

Expected project duration is up to 3 years without prejudice to a longer duration if justified.

[1] Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe; includes Charter for Researchers, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/1640/oj.

[2] A talent ecosystem could for instance consist of a long-lasting cooperation between a cluster of companies in a certain sector and one or more academic institutions, enabling specific skills training of early-career researchers in cooperation with the companies, and facilitating talent circulation.

[3] See projects funded under HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-03.

[4] https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/hrexcellenceaward.

[5] The European Charter for Researchers, while being applicable to all organisations employing researchers, is particularly relevant for those organisations which, because of their size, structure, and number of researchers employed, need to have dedicated expertise, capacity, and resources to manage and implement institutional human resources strategies and policies. This is typically linked to those organisations having a human resources department.