The IGTP receives the HR Excellence in Research Award
On 22 August the IGTP received the HR Excellence in Research Award (HRS4R) from the European Commission (EC). The Commission's human resource strategy is aimed at aligning HR policies across European research institutions with the goal of making the movement of researchers between institutions easier and conditions fairer. The IGTP can use the HRS4R logo to identify itself as one of the 490 organizations now recognized as working towards this goal.
"This is excellent news," Dr Manel Puig, director of the IGTP tells us. "I am particularly pleased that we can be identified as a centre of excellence in Europe and achieving this is a sign of all the hard work the scientific and administrative management teams have been putting in on this aspect over the past 6 years."
At the end of the 20th century, moving between European Research centres was a complicated and confusing process for scientists with different working conditions in different countries and even in different centres within the same country. This changed with the Directorate general for Research policy on human resources and mobility, centred around the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, based on open, transparent and merit-based recruitment systems. To help organizations comply and make the changes necessary the Commission has set up a 5-stage process, which takes 12 years during which research centres come completely into line with the charter and code.
"Receiving the award means we are well on our way," Julia Garcia Prado, Scientific Director of the IGTP explains. "The EC has checked the work we have done so far and awarded us the HRS4R logo, but we don't stop there. We now have to implement our action plan and there will be four more evaluations in the years to come." Having the award is very important for future recruitment and marks the institute as one of the 490 in Europe currently working to align HR Policies. "The logo appears against our job postings on the EUROAXESS recruitment website and this is a sign of prestige for our organization," Garcia Prado tells us. There are currently 1145 more organizations applying for the logo according to the EUROAXESS website.
You can see more information about the IGTP Action Plan on the HRS4R section of the IGTP website.