EU states near agreement on research careers framework

European Union member states are set to endorse a joint framework for improving the working conditions of two million researchers in Europe, but stakeholders are calling for changes to the draft document, writes Goda Naujokaityte for Science|Business.

The draft recommendations, currently debated in the EU Council, call for longer-term employment contracts and training for skills useful outside academia, whilst endorsing a plan to track labour conditions for researchers across the continent. The recommendations won’t be binding, but will give crucial impetus to a new framework that sets out what universities, public authorities and others can do to improve the employment conditions of researchers.

The European Commission proposed the plan in July, in response to calls for EU action to tackle the poor labour conditions faced by researchers. The situation has been growing increasingly dire in recent years, with around half of post-docs reporting they have little access to social security or other benefits in a survey conducted in 2018 and 2019.
Full report on the Science|Business site