The European Charter for Researchers (formerly Charter & Code) is part of the EU's strategic instruments to strengthen research and innovation in Europe.
Together with the establishment of the European Research Area (ERA), the framework programmes for research funding (currently Horizon Europe) and the online job market for researchers (the EURAXESS portal), the European Charter for Researchers seeks to facilitate the ‘free flow’ of researchers, research and research funding.
By making the European Research Area attractive to research talent, avoiding duplication of research and facilitating competition and collaboration between the best researchers across borders, the aim is to strengthen European competitiveness globally and contribute to sustainable societal development.
The Charter itself consists of 20 principles that describe best practice in key areas related to a researcher's working life and career development.
The 20 Charter principles are divided into the main categories;
1. Ethics, Integrity, Gender and Open Research
2. Researcher assessment, recruitment and development
3. Working conditions and practices
4. Research careers and talent development
USN, which joined the Charter in 2019, has committed to working systematically to implement the principles. In practice, this is done by submitting an updated action plan to the EU every 3 years. This implementation process is called the Human Resource Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R).
On the basis of an initial GAP analysis of the work situation for the university's researchers in light of the Charter principles, and the first action plan for the period 2020 - 2022, USN was awarded the ‘HR Excellence in Research’ award in 2020.
The action plan was last revised in 2022. The process of revising the existing action plan and preparing a new one for the period 2026 - 2028 is now underway and will be completed before the summer holidays.
In the autumn, USN's implementation of the principles will be subject to an external evaluation under the auspices of the European Commission.
