Who we are

actionuni der Schweizer Mittelbau / actionuni le corps intermédiaire académique suisse / actionuni il collegio intermediario academico svizzero  represents young researchers as well as the associations of non-professorial academic staff of the Swiss cantonal universities, the Federal Institutes of Technology, the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences, and the Swiss Universities of Teacher Education on the Swiss national as well as the international level. actionuni’s objectives are to improve the academic career tracks and to coordinate the activities of the Swiss associations of non-professorial academic staff.
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News

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.”

Eurodoc wants you!!

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 immigration limitation initiative is a losing game for us all

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:

DE:  https://www.swissuniversities.ch/aktuell/nein-zur-begrenzungsinitiative-schweizer-hochschulen-sind-erfolgreich-dank-ihrer-vernetzung

FR:  https://www.swissuniversities.ch/fr/actualite/non-a-linitiative-de-limitation-le-succes-des-hautes-ecoles-suisses-depend-de-leur-mise-en-reseau

IT : https://www.swissuniversities.ch/it/attualita/no-alliniziativa-per-la-limitazione-le-scuole-universitarie-svizzere-hanno-successo-grazie-alla-loro-interconnessione