EU considers model contracts for academic researchers

Source: sciencebusiness.net

Voluntary model contracts could boost researcher mobility and set standards for career development, says Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva

Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva responded to MEPs’ questions on the upcoming ERA Act. Photo credits: Fred Marvaux / European Union

The European Commission is exploring the feasibility of issuing model employment contracts for European researchers, to support mobility and make careers in research more attractive. The model contracts would offer “a common reference that institutions could freely choose to offer for a more predictable and attractive career,” research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva told the European Parliament on March 9.

The policy is being considered as part of the upcoming proposal for a European Research Area (ERA) Act, due in the third quarter of this year. It’s one of several options being explored to support more stable and secure research careers.

“A career in science must not come at the expense of stability, of financial security, of wellbeing,” Zaharieva said. “We need a gold standard for research careers.”

Other measures under consideration include mutual acceptance of doctoral degrees across the EU, easier establishment of joint doctoral programmes, and easing access to non-EU talent in line with the Choose Europe initiative and the EU’s new visa strategy.

To boost the valorisation and impact of European research, the Commission is also looking into making publicly-funded research “open-access by default,” Zaharieva said.

“Too many frontier breakthroughs are hidden behind paywalls,” she said. “Today, only a third of patents registered by EU universities are commercially exploited. Everyone with a great idea must be able to access and build upon the research results funded by taxpayers’ money.”

It is unclear exactly what this would mean in practice. Under Horizon Europe, researchers are not obliged to publish their results in publications, but if they do, these should be open-access, meaning the information is free of charge and reusable. However, results may be kept closed in certain cases, including if the researcher wishes to commercially exploit them.

A Commission press officer was unable to offer more detail on the plans, as the proposal is still being developed.

Beyond voluntary coordination

The ERA Act will also aim to strengthen the alignment between EU and national instruments, enshrine scientific freedom in European law, and promote gender equality.

One of the main objectives of the legislation will be to bring R&D investment in Europe up to 3% of GDP. EU governments signed up to the target back in 2002, but so far only six member states have met it. Ministers reiterated their commitment to the 3% target in 2024, but if the rest of Europe is to get there, a change of approach will be needed.

“With the [ERA] Act, we will seek to strengthen the research and innovation dimension of our economic coordination, possibly within the European semester,” said Zaharieva. The annual European Semester report is the Commission’s main tool for coordinating economic and social policies across the bloc.

Outside of the Commission, some have suggested exempting research and innovation investments from EU deficit rules until the 3% target is met.

First conceived in 2000, the ERA represents the EU’s ambition to create a single market for research, innovation and technology, but so far it has relied on voluntary commitments from member states.

“Voluntary cooperation has delivered some progress, but let’s be frank, the history of our single market shows that coordination alone will not tackle fragmentation,” Zaharieva said. “We need an ambitious legislative initiative to establish a real fifth freedom [of the single market, for research and innovation].”

Researchers at the core

Zaharieva was responding to written questions from MEPs ahead of a debate on a European Parliament resolution on the ERA Act, in which the Parliament laid out its priorities ahead of the Commission’s proposal. MEPs voted to adopt the resolution on March 10.

Following the vote, Eszter Lakos of the European People’s Party, rapporteur of the Parliament’s report, welcomed the tone struck by the commissioner. “I am very pleased that not just the Parliament but also the Commission is willing to put researchers at the core of ERA,” she told Science|Business.

Lakos agreed that a voluntary EU research contract model could be a good way to incentivise research institutes and universities to improve working conditions. She also supported Zaharieva’s wish to make full use of existing instruments such as the Resaver pan-European pension scheme for researchers.

Meanwhile, mutual acceptance of doctoral degrees “would boost mobility, keep and attract talent in the EU and would help in reducing fragmentation, exactly the direction we should go with the new ERA,” Lakos said.

Parliament pre-empts proposal

During the previous day’s plenary debate, Lakos told fellow MEPs that the upcoming legislation represents an opportunity to finally implement the ERA. “Once and for all, we have an opportunity to address longstanding challenges in Europe’s research ecosystem, from fragmented frameworks and uneven R&D investment, to barriers for research careers and mobility,” she said. “We must do it right this time.”

Lakos said the ERA Act should focus on three main priorities: ending career precarity and fragmentation and supporting mobility; protecting academic freedom, research integrity and collaboration; and establishing clearer and simpler framework conditions for research and innovation across Europe.

A truly integrated European innovation ecosystem would benefit the whole of the EU, but particularly central and eastern European countries, said the Hungarian MEP. “It offers a pathway to unlock the potential of less research-intensive countries where outstanding talent and innovative ideas remain too often underutilised.”

MEPs want the ERA Act to set 2030 as target date for spending 3% of GDP on R&D, alongside national targets for R&D expenditure. Overall, they call for a dual approach, combining legislative measures such as the ERA Act with voluntary cooperation under the existing ERA policy agenda.

Christophe Clergeau, MEP for the Socialists and Democrats, used the debate to argue that EU governments should be made to answer for their R&D investments. “Why, in Europe, are we able to impose binding objectives on debt or public deficit, and not a binding objective on support for research?” he said.

The Parliament text also calls for the ERA Act to be accompanied by a separate proposal with its own legal basis protecting the freedom of scientific research. In contrast, Zaharieva said that she did not see the need for a separate instrument and that scientific freedom should be covered by the ERA Act.