3 April 2024 ICoRSA Events, News

Strengthening Research Careers: A Workshop by IrishRSA and ICoRSA for the Irish Research Community

On May 15th, 2024 IrishRSA and ICoRSA will hold a workshop on the recent European researchers career policies and how these influence national policies, open to Irish research communities.

The workshop will be delivered Dr Luísa Henriques, expert in Research and Innovation policies and current senior advisor to the Board and policy analyst of Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT).

Description

The responsibility for the Research and Innovation policies in Europe is shared by the European Union and the Member States. We will focus now on the role of the European Union. At this level, the European Research Area (ERA) gained recently enhanced momentum with a new policy agenda[1] that included the following cross-sector initiatives:

  • Revised definition of researcher.
  • Additional professions included in the European Framework for Research careers and research skills (European Competence Framework for Researchers).
  • The ERA Talent Platform/EURAXESS
  • The Human Resources Strategy for Researchers, and
  • The future Observatory on Research and Innovation Careers.

These initiatives add concrete instruments both for local employers and national policy authorities to promote career development and offer better conditions for researchers. To further advocate and monitor the implementation of such initiatives, enhanced awareness of the ERA Policy and of the decision-making processes by the researchers is needed. Local and national Research Staff Associations offer a space for community engagement, monitorization and improved alignment between European and national representatives that is adapted to national contexts.

Agenda of the workshop

Action 4 of the ERA Policy Agenda “Promote attractive research careers, talent circulation, and mobility”. With this in mind Dr Luísa Henriques, Senior advisor to the Board and policy analyst to the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) will provide an overview of ERA policies and governance processes and the new European Framework for Research Careers. This will be followed by a discussion moderated by Dr. Mikey Creane (International Officer at Irish RSA), Dr. Bruno Periera (President of ANICT) and Carolina Varela (iCoRSA) who will share their insights on research staff adovacy and how researcher can become positively involved in the devleopment of attractive and sustainable Research Careers both on a national and international level.

Objectives of the workshop

  • To create awareness of Action 4 of the ERA Policy Agenda and the support measures that are part of the European Framework for Research Careers.
  • To create awareness of how researchers can engage locally and nationally to address the challenges related to research careers and professional growth.

Luísa Henriques

About the Speaker

Luísa Henriques holds a PhD in socioeconomics of innovation from Mines-ParisTech and in Economics from ISEG, University of Lisbon. She is a Senior Policy Analyst and Advisor to the FCT’s Board. She is the co-sponsor of Action 4 on Attractive and Sustainable Research Careers from the ERA Policy Agenda (2022-2024), in the ERA FORUM, a high-level group of the European Commission.

She participated in Mutual Learning Exercises of the European Commission, Policy Support Facility of Horizon Europe, one in Foresight for R&I, and the other devoted to Research Careers. She is a member of the advisory board of the Secure project.

Previously, she was a Counsellor and Coordinator for Research and Space at the Portuguese Permanent Representation to the EU (2015/2021) and Coordinator for Research and Space during the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU (2021). She was as well the chair of the Research Working Party, Research Working Party and Atomic Questions, and Vice-Chair of the Space Working Party (1st semester 2021).

Luisa Henriques is an experienced R&D manager and has had managerial positions at FCT/JNICT, being responsible for funding national and structural programmes for R&D until 1999, and responsible for the coordination of ERA-NETs and other transnational research schemes, until 2008. She launched the Studies and Strategies Unit at FCT (2012-2015) and was co-coordinating the design of the national Smart Specialisation Strategy and responsible for the SWOT Analysis of the Portuguese Research System.

She worked at the JRC – IPTS in Seville, European Commission, as a researcher and policy analyst working in the field of ERA and the EU Framework Programme, (2008-2012). She has authored and co-authored research articles in peer-reviewed journals and policy reports and participated in several research projects.

She has extensive experience in international cooperation participating in many groups at the European and OECD levels, namely, she was a delegate to OECD’s CSTP and TIP (2012- 2015) and in the EU, like the ERA rationale high-level group of the EC (2008).

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