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A European declaration could help to improve the work lives of junior researchers.
Institutions and organizations across Europe have launched a manifesto that recommends ways to ameliorate the financial situations, working conditions and career trajectories of early-career academic researchers across the continent.
The declaration, titled ‘Europe supports early research careers and stimulating research workplaces’, was written by junior researchers and policymakers and presented in June at a European policy conference. As of 16 October, it has 145 signatories, including members of the European Parliament; scientific associations; the European University Association, which represents more than 850 universities; the Young Academy of Europe, a pan-European association of junior researchers; and the League of European Research Universities, which represents a group of research-intensive universities. The declaration was also published on the website of the Initiative for Science in Europe.
The manifesto, whose proposals include monitoring the mobility, training progress and career paths of junior researchers, has no mechanism for enforcement. Its authors hope that funders, institutions, publishers and other stakeholders will become signatories, and create new policies based on the manifesto’s recommendations.
The publication comes amid reports of widespread discontent among early- and mid-career academic researchers, who are leaving their universities or changing careers altogether.
