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, as integrated networks where cross-sectoral public and private organisations 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^[2];
• 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’ where both 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.

Cooperation between actors should focus on ensuring, on the one hand, that a large pool of researchers, and where relevant other R&I staff, benefits from attractive working and employment conditions as a result of the implementation of the European Charter for Researchers at organisational level; on the other hand, making sure that researchers and other R&I staff are trained according to the needs of businesses, industry, and, more generally, to the needs of the labour market. 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 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.

A talent ecosystem may be established around a specific sector (e.g., AI, health, digital, climate, clean tech, energy, deep tech, automotive, defence, space) or be comprehensive in nature. The talent ecosystems and the cooperation among partners and sectors 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^[3] 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^[4]. 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.

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

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

[4] 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.