Eurodoc Newsletter #5
(February 2009) This is an e-mail version of the newsletter. The full version featuring images, three-column layout and much more is available in PDF in printable and web-optimised variants.
Please also take a look at the Press Release (PDF) about Eurodoc’s 2009 Conference and Annual General Meeting, which will take place in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. Contents of this Issue
Dear Readers, this is the first issue of the Eurodoc Newsletter in 2009 – and it is also the last one that the 2008 Eurodoc board will be publishing. So we take the chance first of all to say thank you to everybody – Thank you! The Eurodoc Annual Conference and General Meeting in Banská Bystrica March 26–29 is approaching at fast pace: You are cordially invited to join our discussions on the conference topic “Innovations in Europe: From Academia to Practice and Back”. Read on about the conference in the articles focusing on this issue. More on the conference can be found at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/. The essential information can also be found in the Press Release (PDF) for our 2009 conference. During our Annual General Meeting right after the conference, a new Eurodoc board will be elected, so in this issue current president Karoline Holländer takes the chance to sum up Eurodoc’s achievements of 2008 and to combine those with an outlook for the time to come, reporting not only on some plans for 2009, but already for the year after that. One of Eurodoc’s major milestones of 2008 was the launch of our survey on the situation of young and doctoral researchers throughout Europe – which will be the first one to produce really comparable results that are based on first hand experience of the members of 32 organisations from all over Europe. Survey Coordinator Max Reinhardt and president Holländer are giving an update on the current state (see below). A list of upcoming events rounds up this issue. Stephan Kurz EURODOC PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS President Karoline Holländer’s 2008 Report and Outlook Dear Readers, Dear Delegates, Dear Friends, As we are looking forward to the next Annual Eurodoc Conference in Banská Bystrica I would like to take the opportunity to look back at the last twelve months where I have had the honour of being the president of Eurodoc. We had an intensive and productive year, during which we worked on various issues with different partners, represented young researchers at conferences and discussed and developed policy positions on urgent matters within ERA and EHEA. One year is a short time for all the work that needed to be done, but I can state that we made progress not only in terms of internal professionalising of our organisation, but also in cooperation and communication with our partners and important stakeholders within the European Union and beyond. Eurodoc’s work is increasingly recognised and valued among those institutions, which can be seen for instance when taking into account that former Eurodoc secretary Dunja Potočnik has recently been nominated for the European Commission FP7 “People” Advisory Group. One of our main goals for the past year was the start of the European-wide survey that had been developed over the last years. The launch took place in December 2008, and I am proud to say that we hereby started the first examination of the situation of doctoral candidates on a European level. Until April 2009, doctoral candidates of all European countries are called to take part in this study whose results will help us to better understand the situation of young researchers in Europe and react adequately to their needs and demands. For Eurodoc, the outcomes of the survey will be an important source for policy development in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who helped getting the survey started and all the people that are now working on getting the information to the doctoral candidates in their national communities! Another important event during the last year for Eurodoc was the conference “Young researchers in Europe” organised by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union in November 2008. Through the presence of numerous doctoral candidates and young researchers in the audience and speakers in panels and in the workshops, Eurodoc presented the points of view of young researchers to current and ongoing discussions on issues like mobility and career development. Eurodoc welcomed the presented initiative of the European Commission concerning the implementation of the European Charter and Code. In this context I would like to draw your attention to the recent update of the Euraxess portal. It offers now not only any information needed concerning the ‘C & C’, but also lists those institutions who already signed the documents. This is a real step forward and represents a real effort on the part of the Commission to give some help to researchers across a diverse European employment landscape. Not as visible as the survey launch and our presence at various conferences is the work that is going on in the board, the working groups and in the member organisations. But nevertheless, a lot of discussions, decisions and debates have taken place “behind the scenes”. For example, as an outcome of a workshop in Rennes organised by the Career Development Working Group, a policy paper on mentoring has been drafted and is currently discussed. Furthermore, we are working on a Eurodoc Skills Statement to point to the importance of recognizing transferable and soft skills as valuable qualification within doctoral education and of young researchers. I would like to express my thanks to all people that contributed to the progress of Eurodoc and the work during the last year. You have done a terrific job that cannot be overestimated – especially when considering that it is all voluntary and unsalaried work! Due to this work of so many people – in the board, administration, or in national member organisations – we managed not only to hold, but also to further strengthen the position of Eurodoc as representative organisation of doctoral candidates and young researchers in Europe. And we will continue to put forth the voice of doctoral candidates and young researchers in the future – maybe with even more force and strength! Karoline Holländer EURODOC CONFERENCE 2009 IN BANSKÁ BYSTRICA See you in Banská Bystrica at the Eurodoc 2009 Conference! Eurodoc announces the next annual Eurodoc Conference and General Meeting, which will take place at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) on the 26th–29th March 2009. The 2009 conference is jointly organised by Eurodoc associate members ADS (Slovakia) and SKRVŠ (Czech Republic). A detailed programme of the conference plenary sessions, workshops, workgroup sessions and cultural events is available at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/programme/. During the Banská Bystrica General Assembly, a new board will be elected, whereas some secretariat positions will be filled giving a chance to member delegates to express their interest. Banská Bystrica can be reached through the airports of Bratislava, Vienna, Krakow, or Budapest and then by bus or train. Details on how to get to Banská Bystrica are given on the conference 2009 webpage at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/. For delegates, accommodation in university dormitories will be available at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. Please do not hesitate to visit the conference website for further information and registration at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/. See you all there! Elena Xeni BEYOND 2009: FUTURE EURODOC EVENTS Eurodoc Annual Conference 2010 March 11–15, 2010, Vienna, Austria Stocktaking and Prospects: Doctoral Training and Research – the Link between EHEA and ERA The year 2010 marks a major date in the higher education (HE) policy – the ministers responsible for HE will present in Vienna on March, 12 a communiqué on the future of the Bologna process. This celebration will be accompanied by meetings of the major stakeholders in HE policy – EUA, ESU and Eurodoc. We invite the delegates and other young researchers from Eurodoc member organisations to join the discussions in Vienna at the Eurodoc 2010 Conference and the subsequent General Meeting of Eurodoc. ESOF 2010 July 2–7, Torino, Italy European Science Open Forum: ‘Passion for Science’ Eurodoc was asked to be involved in the organisation of a gathering of young researchers from countries all over Europe at ESOF 2010. Together with the organising team of ESOF, Eurodoc is planning a major event around the ESOF, which will create the possibility to organise a forum for discussion on topics that are touched in the Bologna process and its further development after 2010. EURODOC SURVEY: CURRENT STATE Eurodoc Survey – Partners and Multipliers Still Needed! We informed you about the Eurodoc survey already in December 2008. Now we would like to remind you again in order to kindly ask you to spread the word about our European-wide survey. This is the chance for all doctoral candidates to participate in further development of the doctoral education as the 3rd cycle in the Bologna Process. Eurodoc is conducting the European-wide survey of doctoral candidates since December 2008 in cooperation with the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) at the University of Kassel. The survey is running in many European countries. If you are interested to know more about the current feedback rate do not hesitate to contact surveys (at) eurodoc.net. The survey will stay online until 30 April 2009. This is the first survey of its kind, and roughly 100 000 European doctoral researchers in more than 30 European countries have the chance to take part in this study. November 2009 expert workshop Eurodoc will be hosting an expert workshop on the survey later this year, most likely in November 2009. If you like to contribute to this workshop, please contact us via surveys‹at›eurodoc.net! Example question from the Survey Question G 13: To what extent are the following barriers significant for your mobility? - Low funding
- Visa regime
- Language skills
- Family/partnership reasons
- Reduced career opportunities back home
- Loss of professional networking in the
- Home country
- Partner’s job opportunities
- Lack of information
- Transfer of qualification
- Transferability of social security
- Institutional reasons (i.e. approval of supervisor)
EURODOC CONFERENCE 2009 IN BANSKÁ BYSTRICA “Innovations in Europe: From Academia to Practice and Back”
Join Eurodoc at the ‘Heart of Europe’ in Central Slovakia! This years’ Eurodoc Annual Conference and General Meeting (it is already the 9th Eurodoc Conference!) will take place at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. From 25th to 28th March 2009, we will have the opportunity to discuss on the topic “Innovations in Europe: From Academia to Practice and Back” with speakers from different scientific fields, representatives of various research institutions from all over Europe and other stakeholders from European policy making institutions. The first conference day we will speak about “Academia in the Era of knowledge-based Economy” and in two parallel workshops, we will discuss the topics “Fostering Cooperation between University and Industry” and “Success Stories of Intersectoral Mobility”. The second conference day will be dedicated to European Labour Market, Lisbon Strategy, Innovation Policy within the EU and the Role of Universities in the Innovative Economy. The topic of the whole conference is structured around the main headlines of the Lisbon Agenda: here one of the main goals is to shape a strong knowledge-based economy in Europe to stay competitive in the global market. Academia has of course its stake in its creation. While doctoral candidates are mainly based in academia, they become more and more involved in other sectors as well. Doctoral programmes in Europe, especially those emerging of lately, gain more and more structure to foster the employability of doctoral graduates by integrating soft and transferable skills into their curriculum. Additionally, universities are establishing new ways of cooperation with industry to create stronger links between academia and practice. Doctoral candidates from different scientific fields are moving into industry after or while doing their doctorate, constituting a strong link from academia to industry. But what about ways back to academia to encourage knowledge transfer between science and industry and other members of society (e. g. NGOs)? These questions and many more will be touched on the conference. Stakeholders from European policy making in education and science and representatives of various research institutions from all over Europe are warmly invited as well as of course the main focus group of the conference: doctoral candidates and junior researchers. Registration is open until March 6th at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/registration/. A detailed programme of the conference plenary sessions, workshops, workgroups sessions and cultural events can be found at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/programme. What else do I have to know? Accommodation for delegates is already booked at university dormitories, but you can also find other recommended hotels and hostels in the list on our webpage. The town can be reached through the airports of Bratislava, Vienna, Krakow or Budapest and then by bus or train. Details on how to get to Banská Bystrica are given on the conference 2009 webpage at http://www.eurodoc.net/2009/transportation/. We are looking forward to welcoming you in Banska Bystrica! ADS (Slovakia)
SKRVŠ (Czech Republic)
Eurodoc member organisations and
2009 Local Organising Committee EURODOC UPCOMING EVENTS Upcoming Events 2009 March 12–13, 2009, Transsilvania University, Braşov, Romania ENQA Workshop: Quality Assurance in Postgraduate Education Eurodoc is invited for a panel discussion: ‘QA in postgraduate education from the HEIs’, doctoral candidates’, the employers’, and quality assurance agencies’ perspective. March 18–21, 2009, Prague, Czech Republic 5th EUA Convention of European Higher Education Institutions Facing Global Challenges: European strategies for Europe’s universities EUA’s convention takes place just before the formal launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in 2010 and at a time of reflection on the shape of the European Research Area (ERA) in the next decade. It therefore presents a major opportunity for universities and other stakeholders to contribute to the debate by outlining their common vision of how to promote a coherent, transparent and attractive Higher Education sector in Europe. Koen van Dam (Eurodoc President 2007/2008) will be involved in a cluster plenary session on “Strengthening research careers in Europe’s universities”, What are Universities’ responsibilities in building a European Research Area for Researchers. April 28–29, 2009, Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Bologna Ministerial Conference Conference of the European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education The Ministerial conference is the last ministerial meeting of the Bologna Process before the official 2010 conference, where the outcomes are presented, discussed and reflected. Eurodoc will be present with one delegate. April 28–29, 2009, Prague, Czech Republic Researchers in Europe without Barriers, Czech Presidency Conference This conference is organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic with support of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Eurodoc is invited to take part in a Workshop entitled “Creating Better Environment for Researchers in Europe: Implementation of the European Partnership for Researchers into Real Life”. May 21–24, 2009, Bucharest, Romania UNESCO Forum on Higher Education in the Europe Region: Access, Values, Quality and Competitiveness June 4–5, 2009, Lausanne, Switzerland 2nd Annual Meeting of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE) From the invitation: “The Annual Meeting will provide the possibility to discuss further the issues that the EUA-CDE has touched upon during the last year: including supervision of PhD candidates, research careers, internationalisation and data collection as well as providing a forum for thoughts about the future challenges for doctoral education. It will be an occasion to analyse the rapid reforms of European doctoral programmes, to raise ideas and opinions about the future.” Eurodoc is invited to take part in a workshop: ‘Views from the Stakeholders’. October 8–10, 2009, Gießen, Germany EUA Autumn Conference 2009 EURODOC INTERNAL AFFAIRS: BOARD AND SECRETARIAT ELECTIONS Board and Secretariat Elections During General Meeting in Banská Bystrica As every year, a new board has to be elected at the General Meeting in Banská Bystrica. Additionally, there will be some vacancies in the secretariat as well. The board consists of a president, a vice-president, a treasurer, a secretary and up to three general board members. All those will be newly elected during the General Meeting in Banská Bystrica. While the definitions of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer are self-explanatory, the general board members deserve more description. They will act as supporters of the above listed and/or do project based work which will be defined as soon as the new board is elected. Positions in the Eurodoc secretariat will also change: - Our secretariat coordinator Stephan Kurz was elected to be a general board member at the last conference in Fribourg and stepped down from this position to become the new secretariat coordinator only in November 2008 to fill a gap until the next General Meeting and focussed on the smooth cooperation between the board and Eurodoc’s workgroups.
- Survey Workgroup Coordinator Max Reinhardt, who has had the responsibility for Eurodoc’s currently largest project already since 2005, will probably finalize his doctorate in spring 2009 and thus decided to only fulfil the duties of a Workgroup Coordinator until the AGM. Of course, Max will still be around and contribute with all the experience that he has gained in the last couple of years.
- The term of current Policy officer Wolfgang Eppenschwandtner, who has contributed a lot to Eurodoc policy documents and other important issues (e. g. he organised the Eurodoc workshops in Rennes that we were discussing in the last issue of this newsletter), also ends with the AGM.
The 2008 board members and the secretariat members whose tenures will soon be over wish all the best to their successors, and they will of course still be available to all open questions to ensure knowledge transfer in the best possible way! “It is a great opportunity that nobody should miss to become a Eurodoc board or secretariat member”, said Stephan Kurz, and Karoline Holländer added, addressing Eurodoc members and delegates from Eurodoc’s 32 member organisations: “If you consider running for one of the above positions, do not hesitate to say so already now, or to contact the current board and secretariat members about their experiences!” EURODOC – The European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers c/o Focus Research
63, Bd du Triomphe
1160 Brussels – Belgium Contact the board at board<at>eurodoc.net
Visit us at http://www.eurodoc.net/ Editor: Stephan Kurz |
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