In 2005, the European Commission published the la the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (440 principles of the EU Charter & Code). The Charter contains a number of recommendations related to the rights and responsibilities of researchers, as well as those of their employers and/or funders.
Research institutions that implement the EU Charter & Code principles are rendered more attractive to researchers looking for a new employer or for a host for their own research project.
The European Commission offers support to research institutions in the development and implementation of the Charter and the Code through the «Human Resources Strategy for Researchers» (HRSR) project. Research institutions that can demonstrate that they make progress in aligning their human resources policies to the 440 principles of the EU Charter & Code, rrespecting its principles and policies, receive the «HR Excellence in Research Award».
Until now, 709 organisations, 161 of them Spanish have received the HR Excellence in Research award.
1. INICIAL PHASE (2022 – 2024)
The CENIEH has fully committed to complying with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (EU Charter & Code) by developing its Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) and through its Open, Transparent, and Merit-based Recruitment policy (OTM-R), achieving the highest quality standards in human resources management.
Therefore,on November 16th 2022, María Martinón Torres, the Director of the CENIEH, Dr. María Martinón Torres, signed and sent the letter with the declaration of endorsement of the 40 principles of the “European Charter for Researchers” and the “Code of conduct for the recruitment of researchers" and its commitment to get involved in the process of implementing a human-resources strategy for researchers.
Its Director, Dr. María Martinón Torres, has assumed the role of promoting and monitoring the process and validating the final documents.
On November 22th 2022, the Director appointed a Working Group to represent the three functional areas existing at the CENIEH (Research Area, Technical Area and Management Area) with 2 members from each, to lead and implement the process and to manage the communication with EC authorities. The Working Group has been responsible for the preparation of the internal survey, the Gap Analysis & Action Plan and for the analysis of OTM-R checklist, and they have participated and followed up the implementation process.
The aim of this project is to adhere, develop and implement the 40 principles of the “European Charter for Researchers” and the “Code of conduct for the recruitment of researchers” at an institutional level so it will apply and involve all workers of the 3 Areas..
The Working Group had working meetings on monthly basis, and prepared an on-line survey to get a sense on the perception of our research community and our technical and management areas, on the degree of commitment of the CENIEH with the 40 principles of the European Charter..
The questionnaire was based on the gap analysis template provided by the EC and was designed to assess knowledge and perceptions of the 40 principles. The survey gave optionally the opportunity to write down comments or propose realistic actions in each answer. The survey was written and offered in Spanish and English..
CENIEH of the working plan and the on-line survey (Annex I), and from that day, the survey was open to all of them.
Based on the results and the expertise of the WG, a gap analysis was carried out and developed an Action Plan to align our human resources policies to the 40 principles of the EU Charter & Code.
On November 2023,the 27th, CENIEH submitted the three mandatory documents in the Euraxess online platform:
The Gap Analysis
The OTM-R Checklist
The Action Plan
On March 2024, the 6th ,CENIEH has received the Initial Assessment with a “pending minor modifications” to work on it and re-submit the three mandatory documents in the Euraxess online platform within 2 months, that is, on May 2024, the 5th.
The documents shown below correspond to the version of 03/05/2024.
The Gap Analysis
The OTM-R Checklist
The Action Plan
On July 2024 ,the 22th, CENIEH received the European Commission´s Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) Award which recognizes CENIEH's commitment to the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, and furthermore commits CENIEH to an Action Plan to improve its capabilities and performance across a wide range of training, recruitment and gender issues.
The following illustration shows the initial phase of obtaining Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) Award:
HRS4R links of interest:
- European Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R)
- The European Charter & Code for Researchers
HRS4R documents
2. IMPLEMENTATION PHASE (2024- 2026)
On July 2024, CENIEH obtained the "HR Excellence in Research Award" by the European Commission. So, from now on, CENIEH use the HRS4R quality label and start implementing the several initiatives outlined in our Action Plan.
Our Human Resources Strategy for Researchers Action Plan (HRS4R Action Plan) was drawn up by a working group in a participative and open process involving the representatives of all of the 3 CENIEH’ functional areas through a general survey.
The 2024-2024 CENIEH’s Action Plan comprises 6 actions:
Action 1: Align all recruitment and selection procedures according to the principles of OTM-R (open, transparent, and merit-based.)
Action 2: Develop a Code of Good Practices for Research.
Action 3: Implementations of the Gender Equality Plan.
Action 4: Develop an Internal program for Mentoring and Career Advice.
Action 5: Review Internal evaluation system.
Action 6: Involve Research, Technical, and Management areas in the development of the next Strategic Plan 2025 - 2028.
Following the recommendations of the European Commission, the implementation process will be performed through 3 different levels of responsibility:
1. The Director will coordinate and distribute the development of the main related actions from the HR4SR Action Plan. She will invite other research, technical and administrative staff members to participate in the different Implementation Working Groups (IWG). She will appoint the member of the Steering Committee. She will communicate semi-annually the advances to the Governing Council of the CENIEH. She will approve the final documents and results.
2. The Steering Committee will play the essential role of regularly monitoring and overseeing on a regular basis the progresses of the different implementation Working Groups and the OTM-R strategy implementation. They will control the quality and follow up on indicators. They will communicate quarterly the advances to the CENIEH Director. They will be appointed by the Director and it will be composed of 6 members, among them: the Managing Director, the Human Resources Manager and 2 representatives of Research Area. Each member will lead an Implementation Working Group.
3. Implementation Working Groups (IWG) (GTI) for each main proposed action: sthey will be appointed by the Steering Committee. It will be composed of 4-6 members. They will work and develop their specific action and follow up on its indicators. Their work and their opinion will be assessed by focus meetings and internal surveys and taken into account during the whole plan. OTMR-R WG will be led by Human Resources Department.
Members of the Steering Committee:
| MEMBER | AREA | POST | GENDER |
1 | Carlos de Quevedo | Management | Managing Director | M |
2 | Carmen Gutiérrez | Management | HR Manager | F |
3 | Nohemi Sala | Research | Researcher R4 | F |
4 | Leslea J. Hlusko | Research | Researcher R4 | F |
5 | Belen Notario | Technical | Laboratory Technician | F |
6 | Fernando Jiménez | Technical | Laboratory Technician | M |
Now, we are in the process of attracting employments volunteers for the Implementation Working Groups.