Position papers and press releases

Here you can find all press releases, our position papers and official answers to public consultations.

Food for thought-Avuba’s 2020 postdoc snapshot

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…..

A firm, friendly and transparent pact for career development of researchers

The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers was published in September 2019 as a follow-up to the first concordate published in 2008. This document is the result of collaborative work including diverse stakeholders with an interest in research and researchER development. Although UK-targeted, it is highly translatable to pretty much all European countries, so we think there may be lots to be inspired by!

In their own words:

This revised Concordat recognises the critical role of research and innovation in delivering the UK’s ambitious economic and industrial strategies, and aims to set the gold standard in researcher development and use it as a competitive advantage.

Shaping Research Culture-a timely discussion

The Graduate Campus UZH together with Life Science Zurich we are organising an online event called “Shaping Research Culture”, specifically tailored for the Life Sciences, on the 5th Nov. With this event we aim to engage in an open discussion on the values of our research culture and ways to shape that culture.  
 
The event is structured in two parts:
1. The workshop (13:00-15:15)
Designed to apply system’s-level thinking in order to inspire new ideas about what an ideal research culture could look like. This could be both in terms of big systems change, for example around the way research is funded or how knowledge is communicated, and in terms of small changes applicable today. The workshop will happen in break-out rooms of about 6 participants.
2. The Panel discussion (15:30-17:30)
The ideas generated through the workshop will be a starting point for our discussion with the panelists.
You can register to attend either the full event or only the panel discussion.

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

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.”