The roadmap of CREA

In May 2016, an internal Working Group was set up with the aim to adopt the "European Charter for Researchers" and the related "Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers". This Working Group comprised both researchers, technologists, Heads of Units and administrative staff with both permanent and temporary contracts, who were operating according to a workplan divided into five steps (2017).

In the course of its work, the Group elaborated a Gap analysis 2017 identified between the principles set out in the Charter and the Code and the rules and practices in force at that time within CREA. The Working Group subsequently invited all research and nonresearch staff, to participate in a survey aiming at the identification of actions suitable for filling the observed gaps. The participation rate was 59.4% and it is possible to download two PDF documents which report the results of the survey: the first one reports the frequencies of the opinions expressed by the participants on each proposed statement, the other one the breakdown of the respondents according to gender, profile, age, etc. Following the assessment of what emerged from the Gap Analysis and from the survey, the Working Group drew up an Action Plan 2017 for submission to the European Commission, consisting of 15 different actions to be implemented by December 2019. Further to the Gap Analysis and the Action Plan, also the CREA Strategy document for Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment (OTM-R) was produced.

All documents were sent to the European Commission in October 2017.

On March 21, 2018, following a positive assessment unanimously expressed by the evaluators, the European Commission recognized CREA with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research" (Consensus Report 2017).

As foreseen by the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers, after 24 months all institutions having obtained this recognition must undergo an intermediate evaluation by the European Commission, reporting on the progress made on the basis of the Action Plan and the proposed OTM-R strategy. To this end, in April 2020 CREA sent the Report on Internal Review 2020 for Interim Assessment by the European Commission.

This is a descriptive report of what was proposed in the initial Action Plan, highlighting achievements obtained and analysing Actions whose realization is still underway. It also describes the ways in which the Actions were implemented and the gaps not yet filled. The report then proposes further new Actions to be carried out.

On 7 July 2020, the European Commission approved the internal audit report proposed by CREA (Consensus Report 2020) and provided practical recommendations for the continuation of the process started in 2016 and implemented in 2020.

The next re-evaluation of CREA by the European Commission is foreseen for July 2023.