Bridging the gap – how to walk the talk on supporting early career researchers

Abstract

Early career researchers (ECRs) play a crucial role in European and nationally funded research projects. They are at the forefront of planning, conducting, analysing, and reporting research. As part of the SOPs4RI project funded by the European Commission, we, as ECRs and members of this project’s consortium, were given the opportunity to reflect on our role, obstacles, and possible opportunities that we experienced. Although several steps have been already taken to support early career researchers, more concrete actions have to be pursued. In our opinion, the EC should take the lead and serve as a global frontrunner (taken as exemplary also by national funding agencies) in implementing initiatives to support early career researchers during their research trajectory. We opine that the European Commission should explicitly (i) require the creation of a support system in which early career researchers will be able to build new skills and capacity, (ii) encourage and facilitate more involvement of early career researchers in decision-making roles of EC-funded projects, and (iii) provide resources to support career continuity between fixed-term contracts. The suggested actions can help early career researchers build competencies and expertise to establish stability and continuity within the research environment or to embrace and excel in careers outside academia.

Editorial: Research integrity

“…PhD researchers and other early-career researchers (ECRs) play a vital role in research and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in all disciplines (Bernery et al, 2022 ; Pizzolato et al, 2023 ). Their experiences catalyze changes in the research system and reflect the current academic culture.…”

“…PhD researchers provide new ideas and perspectives during the research process and they play an increasingly important role in the current production of scientific research—especially project-based research, which often requires a greater proportion of PhD researchers (Milojević et al, 2018 ; Boothby et al, 2022 ). In addition to the contributions they make, working on research projects also benefits junior researchers as well; such as the development of their research and interpersonal skills, as well as the advancement of their knowledge and expertise (Bernery et al, 2022 ; Pizzolato et al, 2023 ). Moreover, working on multidisciplinary and international collaborative research projects is a great opportunity for junior researchers to meet new colleagues, share experiences, and spread the collaborative network for further research endeavors.…”