Resources and documents

Here you can find relevant resources and documents from the European and national level, for example from Eurodoc, the European Commission, swissuniversities, SHK, SWIR etc.

We are recruiting the new actionuni Board!

Eurodoc, Internal, SHK

Are you interested in higher education politics in Switzerland? Do you want to interact with
key higher education stakeholders? Do you want to connect with your peers to collaborate
on improving academia? Then you should join actionuni as a Delegate or as a Board member!

We are looking for candidates for the following positions:

  • Co-President(s) / Vice-President(s)
  • Treasurer
  • Board member
  • Delegate to the SHK (Schweizerischen Hochschulkonferenz) / CSHE (Conférence suisse des hautes écoles)
  • Eurodoc delegate

You can find more information in the following document: Open positions actionuni 2023

To apply to an open position, please send a short letter of interest and your CV to the email address “president AT actionuni.ch” by October 15, 2023.

Actionuni’s response to the ERI Dispatch 2025-28 consultation

Position paper, Position papers and press releases, SBFI

The education/research/innovation dispatch 2025-2028 (ERI dispatch / “BFI Botschaft” in German / “Message FRI” in French / “Messagio ERI 25-28” in Italian) is the central document of the federal ERI policy, which the Federal Council submits to Parliament for approval every four years. The 2025-28 ERI dispatch (French version/German version/Italian version) contains an assessment of the current funding period (2021-24), defines the priorities, objectives and measures for the new period, and requests the necessary funding (“guarantee credits”) for their implementation. For the first time, the Federal Council has decided to publish an early draft and to put it out for consultation for relevant stakeholders to give feedback on it. The consultation procedure was open from June 2nd to September 24th, 2023.

Because the midlevel staff of Swiss higher education institutions is highly impacted by the ERI dispatch, actionuni wrote a response to the consultation, taking position on the issues most relevant to doctoral students, post-docs and non-professorial scientific employees:

  • the budgetary cuts of the ERI dispatch, which we oppose; 
  • the objectives for higher education institutions, which we salute, but would like to see completed with more attention to representation, to scientific integrity, and to improve research culture; 
  • international cooperation, which is essential for to quality research – in particular, a quick association to Horizon Europe ;
  • academic career and next generation scientists, who need support and career prospects ; 
  • the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF);
  • Equity: diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity, which is rightly identified as a priority, but should be accompanied by concrete measures from all HEIs ;
  • open science, which strategy should go hand in hand with guidance and resources for its practical implementation ;
  • ESKAS grants for international students, which urgently need to be increased.

You can find our full response below, in French and in English:

Response actionuni ERI Dispatch 25-28

Prise de position d’actionuni sur le message FRI 25-28

Eurodoc 2021 Virtual Conference

Eurodoc, Events, networking activities
Call for Expressions of Interest in Eurodoc Administration 2021/2022 Positions
Send your replies to consultation@eurodoc.net

Dear All,

Our Eurodoc Conference and AGM 2021 is approaching fast and we are looking forward to seeing you all there (http://www.eurodoc.net/conference-agm-2021).

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, representative in Initiative for Science Europe (ISE)

– Legal Officer(s) = responsible for reviewing contracts and agreement with Stakeholders and internal Governance; managing personal data and images

– Data Manager= responsible for internal data management and storage of data and documents

– Skills Officer = responsible for developing skills policies and liaising with our skills stakeholders

– EOSC Officer = responsible for developing EOSC and cloud policies and liaising with EOSC stakeholders

– Council of Europe officer = responsible for supporting the Eurodoc delegation at the Council of Europe

– BFUG Officer(s) = responsible for collaboraboration with Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG)

– External Communication Coordinator = responsible for liaising with the board, coordinating 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

– Working Group Coordinator = coordinates activities in a specific working group, such as Open Science

We selected 12 working groups which will need coordinators (and members) for activities and policies of the next term:

– 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 working group (i.e., Eurodoc members only) focusing on Eurodoc finances and funding

– Governance = a working group (i.e., Eurodoc members only) on Eurodoc governance and regulations

– Employment & Careers = discussing 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 and Assessment = discussing and developing policies on research assessment, 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.

Food for thought-Avuba’s 2020 postdoc snapshot

Press release, Resources and documents

Our member from the University of Basel, avuba, has just published a comprehensive survey of UniBasel postdocs, carried out in 2020, a year we are unlikely to forget.

The data is impressive and shows how much change is needed for mid-level staff, and specifically postdoc, employment, support and promotion.

An overview of the datasets in German or in English and the survey itself and a summary of results in German and English are now publicly available. Talk of food for thought…..

Covid-19: The Quiet Crisis of PhDs and COVID-19

Covid-19 emergency, Press release, Resources and documents

Please follow this link to read this sobering research article from Australia where the authors “….found that 75% of students expect to experience financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. Consequently, 45% report being pushed beyond their financial capacities and expect to be forced to disengage from their research within six months. Comparative pre-COVID data from an Australian national survey, reports research student disengagement of 20% over four years. The 25% increase of expected disengagement, in a much-reduced period, signals a deeper PhD crisis. Swift intervention is required to avert substantial impacts to the pipeline of research talent.”