Wishes for the ERA Act

The European Research Area (ERA) has over the last 25 years contributed significantly to strengthening Europe's competitiveness. However, there is still much to be done. Today the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) and the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) share their wishes for the upcoming European Research Act (ERA Act).

For Eurodoc these wishes centers around the following six points: 

1. Promote and protect scientific freedom: We call for the enhancement of the professional protection of researchers by establishing an ombudsperson for academic freedom for researchers at the European level to represent researchers in cases where their academic freedom may be threatened.
2. Ensure competitiveness and promote and protect open science: To conduct our research as openly as possible and only as closed as necessary. It is necessary to strengthen fair competition and promote competitiveness by ensuring transparency about other sectors’ contributions to research funding and involvement in research.

3. Ensure responsible use of EU funds and enable European freedom: We call for the use of EC funds to be done responsibly and to promote competitiveness. If the research career is to be attractive researchers at all stages should be employed and not come at the expense of social security. Thus access to EC funds should be contingent on researchers financed through these funds being employed and that their employment grants them full access to social security.
4. Increase the attractiveness of research careers and address mobility barriers. The promise of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and ERA must be delivered and the professional status of doctoral candidates as researchers should be fully recognized and they and other ECRs receive salaries and social rights comparable to their professional qualifications.

5. Increase investments in R&I:The European Union must invest in Europe's future through the Framework programme and promote the member states to do the same. The targets should be 3% of GDP for the combined public and private spending on R&I, and 1.25% of GDP for the public sector. The Commission has invited Member States to activate the national escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact to increase their defence spending. A similar measure could be taken to increase the R&I expenditure and to prompt reforms and investments by the Member States!
6. Ensuring independence and stability for the ERC and MSCA: A permanent and robust structural framework for both the ERC and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) must be established to ensure the independence. These programmes need long-term stability and the current threats of introducing directionality in the MSCA programmes shows that further protective mechanisms of such independence are needed.

We hope that these wishes can start a discussion about what the ERA Act should address and we look forward to engaging in these conversations in the coming months. 

You find the full statement here.