OBJECTIVES
General comments
through the HRS4R Strategy, the URJC aims to align the internal policies of the University to the principles of the European Charter and Code for Researchers. The ultimate aim is to proactively foster a dynamic and inclusive culture of excellence in research within the University.
The Strategy is an opportunity for researchers as it implies the following guarantees:
- It ensures that the recruitment conditions are open, transparent and based on merits.
- It accompanies researchers in their professional training and development.
- It strengthens the researchers' community encouraging synergies between research lines and collaborations between researchers.
- It provides tools for researchers so that they can perform their activities safely and under the appropriate working conditions.
- It promotes that URJC researchers are in a competitive position at European and international level.
The HRS4R Strategy is structured in three phases.
Phases
Preliminary Assessment: Gap analysis and Action Plan
To implement the HRS4R Strategy, an Action Plan was drafted when the URJC was granted the HRS4R Award. The Action Plan assessed which actions implemented by the URJC were already aligned with the European Charter and Code for Researchers and which were the areas for improvement. To structure the work to be carried out, the URJC adopted 18 actions to the end of covering the identified gaps in the four pillars of the HRS4R Strategy: (1) ethical and professional aspects; (2) recruitment and selection; (3) working conditions and (4) professional training and development.
Implementation Phase: Interim Assessment
The URJC is currently in the second step of implementation phase of the Strategy: implementation of the Revised Action Plan (2023-2025).
On 11 June 2021, the constitution of a team formed by 13 working groups (WG) responsible for the implementation of the 18 actions of the initial Action Plan (2020-2022) was officially launched.
IMPLEMENTATION PHASE
{modal url="images/hrs4r/gantt.jpg"}
In July 2022 the URJC submitted to the European Commission its Internal Review for Interim Assessment report on the progress in the implementation of the HRS4R Action Plan in the institution. After the eligibility check, in which the European Commission considered that the Internal administrative Report had been completed in due time and form, the European Commission issued its Interim Assessment Consensus Report in November 2022, concluding that the HRS4R Award Strategy is fully embedded in the URJC and that no corrective measures are needed. As a major strength, the European Commission highlighted the URJC's strong commitment to ensuring that the objectives of the Action Plan are achieved by involving both researchers and senior management, ensuring that the voice of researchers is heard and investing in effective communication about the HRS4R Strategy to help researchers understand the Strategy and identify its benefits.
The European Commission made the following recommendations:
- Supervision should constantly be in the organization's attention therefore, training courses for supervisors should be provided and somehow engage supervisors in attending such courses.
- Work-life balance needs to be considered at all levels (R1-R4) - special action to be included in the next Action Plan.
- Provide support and advice to young researchers in developing their career plans.
- Disseminate best practices of others in implementing HRS4R.
- Think and act attract and retain talented researchers nationally and internationally.
- consider gender balance statistics in all activities (eg selection committees are gender balanced?). Also, consider PhD students representation in different decision-making bodies related to their work.
- Periodic consultation plan so every researcher's voice is heard (eg survey on training needs, working conditions, post-pandemic stress, accommodation with work from home, etc.). Made the results public and address these needs with specific actions and programs to everyone to see the prompt reaction of the institution to researchers' problems.
- Encourages researchers' participation in communicating science to society; it will be important for the organization's visibility in the community and will increase prestige and market positioning.
Next steps
In light of the European Commission report and its recommendations, the Rey Juan Carlos University has designed a Revised Action Plan (2023-2025) including three new actions aimed at improving the communication and dissemination of the HRS4R Strategy tools among the research community. In addition, the URJC, consistent with its commitment to continue applying and aligning its internal policies with the European Code and Charter for Researchers, continues with the initial actions as shown in the following table:
Specifically, the Manual on Best Practices in Research (A.18 of the initial Action Plan) continues to be developed through the elaboration of a Mini-Guide of Good Practices on gender equality, diversity and inclusion in research. A Working Group has been set up to carry out this activity. The Mini-Guide of Good Practice is expected to be published and available in both English and Spanish in the first quarter of 2025.
In addition, the work done on occupational health and risk management (A.4 of the initial Action Plan) continues. The form created to assess potential risks in research projects is widely used by the research community and new training programs are being developed to raise awareness of these issues among research staff.
Finally, with the adoption in January 2024 of the Regulation establishing the procedure for hiring Research, Technical and/or Research Management Staff to carry out scientific-technical tasks at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, the group in charge of Action 2 - OTM-R Principles has been renewed, with the aim of achieving the following objectives:
- Including the HRS4R Award logo in all recruitment calls.
- Promote the attraction of international research talent:
- Translation of recruitment legal bases into English
- Publication of recruitment calls in euraxess.
- Launching the Welcome Office: The Office will be called the Center for the Attraction and Internationalization of Research Talent (CAIT). The action is launched with the presentation of the IMÁN project on 20 March 2024.
- Map of research staff figures existing at URJC.
- Revision of the content of infographics to summarize the contents of the Regulations and translation.
In conclusion, although new actions are contemplated and implemented in the revised Action Plan, the work carried out by the 13 Working Groups of the initial Action Plan has influenced the URJC's policies to guarantee a good working environment for researchers that favors the development of their research career in the best conditions, giving them more time for research and that this time is of higher quality.
In November 2025 the URJC will present its Internal Review for Renewal Assessment report of the second phase of implementation of the HRS4R Award Strategy and will receive a visit from the European Commission. After this visit, the URJC will move on to the HRS4R Award Renewal Phase in which the URJC will have to demonstrate that its actions and policies are fully integrated with the principles and recommendations of the European Charter and Code of Conduct for Researchers.