As new challenges arise, we will help IBEC to adapt and implement change as an agile organization that takes care of its community’s needs. Here, we present to you the achievements and progress of the last 6 months in the Human Resources Strategy implementing the Charter & Code (HRS4R):
- A pilot edition of the BIST Mentoring Programme was launched in October by the 7 Research Centers. Currently, 47 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are being mentored and supported by senior postdoctoral researcher, group leader, or staff in academia or industry to help fulfil their career aspirations as they evolve as scientists.
- The PhD Committee and the Postdoc Committee are making great progress with the bottom-up initiatives: Mentoring Programme for 28 PhDs and Postdocs and the Joint Point (a space where researchers, ranging from PhD students to principal investigators, have a to discuss problems and opportunities in a relaxed environament). For more information about the Joint Point, please go to the following section.
- Our Training Catalogue for 2021 was amplified with a new training package for TechTransfer. In total, 6 workshops were delivered from both internal and external experts for 106 training participants.
- In 2020, we implemented training on Research Integrity with a double focus on supervisors and early career researchers. For 2022, this training priority will be strengthened further through a collaborative workshop with our BIST partners.
- The BIST Career Fair was organized by the 7 research centers in July, offering workshops and roundtables to give predocs and postdocs tools and resources to help make career decisions and be prepared for their future inside and outside academia. All the events were extremely successful in terms of participation and attendance, with a total of 1.223 registrations at BIST Level.
- The IBEC’s Research Data Management Policy has been approved and published in October. It is a general framework for the management of the research data produced by IBEC, which reaffirms IBEC’s commitment with open science.
- In the Gender & Diversity Plan, we have carried out an analysis regarding the equal pay at IBEC. The results were presented to the Gender and Diversity Commission and the works council at the beginning of December. We are happy that the result has been considered positive by the consulting company that has prepared the audit. However, in the coming months the working group will analyze what can still be improved and how.
- After the survey and the analysis of the conclusions by the working group, we are currently negotiating with the work council the future Telework policy
- With the aim of organizational clarification, the Job Descriptions at the support area were updated.
- IBEC welcomed in November the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciencesfrom the Check Republic, who came to visit us for 2 days in order to learn about our experience in the HRS4R Process. It was a very fruitful experience in which both Institutions share good practices and learned from each other.
Now, we are preparing us for the visit of the European Commission external evaluators, who will come in February. It will be an intense visit with interviews with researchers at different levels, with the HRS4R Committee and with Management. We hope to learn a lot from this experience and especially from the recommendations and suggestions for improvement made by the experts.
We will continue with our work on the Award renewal process preparing the site visit from the European Commission external evaluators. We will keep you updated regularly and are looking forward to continuing our conversations about IBEC’s HRS4R with you.
Please visit the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers page for more information.
We need your collaboration and feedback to design and implement actions that will improve our working conditions.
If you wish to start contributing, please contact us at charterandcode@ibecbarcelona.eu
On behalf of the Monitoring and Working Committee, which is made up of 15 IBEC members, we wish you a Merry Christmas!
