Here at actionuni we all hope your 2021 started serenely!
In 2020 , actionuni was involved in a OECD-driven project to analyse the current situation of precariousness in academic research. Data was then presented at a workshop in late November.
On 29 September 2020, the General Assembly of actionuni der Schweizer Mittelbau renewed its board with a new co-president and new delegate to the SNSF.
Congratulations to our new co-president Martina von Arx and to our newly-acquired actionuni SNSF delegate Prabitha Urwyler!
Co-presidents Carmen Faso and Rashmi Rai-Rawat wish to thank all previous board members including Alexey Evstratov and Isabel Bolliger. Special thanks to Katharina Prautsch for her invaluable service as SNSF delegate board member and to Lauriane Nallet-Khosrofian and former co-president Salome’ Adam for their dedication as social media officers.
The new board will meet in early December.
In Switzerland, 80% of highly-qualified academic staff is on precarious contracts.
A wealthy, education-driven society like Switzerland can do better!
If you agree
, please sign the petition for more stable jobs in academia here!
And share the petition through Facebook and Twitter and whatever other channel you wish to use.
Within the framework of the upcoming votation on the “Moderate Immigration” initiative, Netzwerk Future releases a short but sweet document on why Switzerland has everything to gain from participating fully in Horizon Europe.
Check it out right here (in German)
From Eurodoc President Eva Hnatkova:
The Eurodoc Conference and AGM 2020 is approaching fast and we are looking forward to seeing you all there online:
[http://www.eurodoc.net/online-conference-agm-2020]
I would hereby like to make a call for expressions of interest in our Eurodoc administration 2020/2021 positions.
We are looking for interested and enthusiastic candidates for the seven administrative board positions:
– President = leads the organisation and represents Eurodoc legally and officially
– Vice-President = supports and takes over from the president when necessary
– Treasurer = responsible for the organisation’s finances and financial transactions
– Secretary = responsible for communication and archives and tracking activities
– 3 x General Board Member = choice of topics such as the Annual Questionnaire
We are also looking for interested and enthusiastic candidates for our secretariat for possible positions:
– Secretariat-Coordinator = coordinates activities of secretariat members and liaises with the board
– Financial Controller = critically checks the finances and financial transactions and financial reports
– Policy Officer = writing and contributing to policy statements and reports
– Pension Officer = responsible for developing pension policies and liaising with pension stakeholders
– Skills Officer = responsible for developing skills policies and liaising with our skills stakeholders
– Project Officer = responsible for managing project applications and liaising with project stakeholders
– EOSC Officer = responsible for developing EOSC and cloud policies and liaising with EOSC stakeholders
– Plan S Officer(s) = responsible for collaboraboration with cOAlition S on the ongoing developments in Plan S implementation
– Council of Europe officer = responsible of represent Eurodoc at the Council of Europe
– BFUG Officer(s) = responsible for collaboraboration with Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG)
– External Communication Coordinator = responsible for liaise with the board and coordinate the activities of the communication team and issuing press releases
– Social Media Officer = responsible for messaging and interacting via our social media channels
– Newsletter Officer = responsible for collecting and publishing content in our monthly newsletter
– Language Officer = native English speaker responsible for checking and correcting Eurodoc texts
– Webmaster = responsible for maintaining and backing up the Eurodoc website and placing content
– Working Group Coordinator = coordinates activities in a specific working group such as Open Science
Some possible working groups which will need coordinators (and members) for activities and policies:
– Accreditation = discussing and developing policies on university and/or programme accreditation
– Democracy-Sustainability = discussing and monitoring policies on academic freedom; discussing approaches of sustainability in research and academia
– Doctoral Training = discussing and developing policies on doctoral training and skills development
– Equality = discussing and developing policies on equality with a focus on gender
, ethnic and cultural diversity, and special needs
– Finance = a closed for Eurodoc members working group focusing on Eurodoc finances and funding
– Governance = a closed for Eurodoc members working group on Eurodoc governance and regulations
– Employment & Careers = policies on employment status and conditions and career development
– Interdisciplinarity = discussing and developing policies on improving interdisciplinary collaboration
– Mental Health = discussing and developing policies to raise awareness and improve mental health
– Mobility = policies on mobility with a focus on intersectoral and geographic mobility and brain drain
– Open Science = policies on Open Science with a focus on Open Access and Data and Citizen Science
– Policy Research = discussing and developing general policies for early-career researchers and Eurodoc
– Research Integrity = discussing and developing policies on research integrity and integrity projects
See our Eurodoc statute for more information on our organisation and legal regulations and positions:
[http://eurodoc.net/eurodoc/eurodoc-statute]
Note that all positions are voluntary: work is not financially rewarded but some costs might be covered.
The limitation initiative, including the termination initiative, affects the universities to a high degree: it jeopardizes two bilateral agreements that are important for the Swiss universities: The free movement of persons and the European research framework programmes.
We would like to draw your attention to the following media release from swissuniversities:
The Eurodoc 2020 conference will take place in Warsaw, Poland, on April 22-23, 2020. The event is organised by Krajowa Reprezentacja Doktorantów (KRD) and Eurodoc , the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers with the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Republic of Poland.
The main aim of the Eurodoc annual conference is to provide a platform to bring together Eurodoc members i.e. National Association (NAs), early-career researchers (ECRs), higher education policy makers, universities, funding institutions, businesses, and other stakeholders to address issues relevant to ECRs, higher education, and research. The conference is a great opportunity to meet and network with other ECRs from across Europe.
University.Now! is an event organized by our member ACIDUL at the UNiversity of Lausanne from 5-6. December 2019.
Please find more information on this important event dedicated to the future and perspectives for mid-level staff in Switzerland by following this link.
We believe that an increased promotion of women is necessary in order to draw on the full potential of excellent scientists. Additionally, we think that temporarily, quota are necessary in those disciplines, where women are heavily underrepresented, especially at senior research and professorial levels. Moreover, we strive for an equal representation of women and men in decision bodies to overcome structural deficits!
Please read about our further positions in our position paper (DE, FR, EN)
Furthermore, we would also like to inform you about the Academic Manifesto for the Feminist Strike (EN, DE, FR).