HR Excellence in Research Award - HRS4R

The Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences is pleased to announce its initiative to apply for the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award. The HR Excellence in Research Award gives public recognition to research institutions that have made progress in aligning their human resource (HR) policies with the principles set out in the the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers (Charter and Code).

The HR Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) has been launched by the European Commission to support research institutions and funding organizations in the implementation of the Charter and Code in their policies and practices. The principles of the Charter and Code specify the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers as well as of employers of researchers. The overarching aim is to develop an attractive, open and sustainable European labour market for researchers, giving individual researchers the same rights and obligations wherever they may work throughout the European Union. The value and impact of implementing this strategy at the Institute of Physics should be primarily to benefit researchers. By implementing the strategy, the institution will continuously try to improve its policies, practices, research environment, and support for researchers.

In order to gain the HR Excellence in Research Award, the institute is required to execute the following steps of the HRS4R process:

1. The institution conducts an internal gap analysis to compare its practice against the principles of the Charter and Code.
2. The institution develops an action plan based on the findings of the analysis to fill gaps in the provision of support and career development for researchers.
3. The analysis and action plan are submitted to the European Commission and reviewed by external international experts. Once acknowledged, institutions can use the HR Excellence in Research logo.
4. The institution carries out a self-assessment at least every two years to assess progress and update its action plan.
5. An external evaluation will take place at least every four years. External reviewers can recommend improvements needed in order to retain the acknowledgement.

The implementation of the HRS4R process at the Institute of Physics was initiated by the director’s official endorsement of the 40 principles of the Charter & Code on November 9th, 2017. The HRS4R process has been carried out by the HR team and Working Group for HRS4R as a part of the project "HR AWARD FZU – Improving quality of the strategic management in the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences” and is described in detail bellow (see Documentation).

The Institute of Physics also established a Steering Committee containing a wide range of stakeholders and researchers within the Institute of Physics to oversee the implementation process. The list of all members of the Steering Committee and the Working Group for HRS4R can be found below.

In the last year, the HR team, the Working Group for HRS4R and the Steering Committee have been making tangible and measurable advances to analyse the current situation and propose active steps for aligning the HR policies of the Institute of Physics with the principles of the Charter & Code. The process started with a thorough employee survey and Gap Analysis resulting in the development of a customized Action Plan for the forthcoming 2 years. The Action Plan, the methodology and results of the survey can be found below in Documentation. The implementation phase of the activities in the Action Plan commenced in the 4th quarter of 2018 using the established bodies (Steering Committee and Working Group for HRS4R) and Implementation Teams. The Implementation Teams are in charge of implementing four areas of the themes from the Action Plan, dealing with the matters of HR, internal communication, working conditions and PR. Their members and roles are described below in Documentation. The Gap Analysis and Action Plan were submitted to the European Commission on October 5th, 2018.

The European Commission welcomed the care taken in aligning the Institute of Physics’ HR practices with the Charter and Code in the EC Consensus Report on December 11th, 2018. The accessors indicated that the application met most of the criteria; recommending minor modifications and the re-submission of the application within two months. The revised application containing the updated Action Plan was submitted to the European Commission on February 8th, 2019. On April 26th 2019 The Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has been granted the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award.

News

As part of the “HR Award” Project, the FZU offers new courses focused on soft skills and other related topics. Further Information is available after log in at https://www.fzu.cz/en/training-and-courses.

The Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences is pleased to announce granting the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award!

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Documentation

• Survey Methodology and Outcomes
• Action Plan
• HRS4R Implementation Process

Committees and teams

Steering Committee – members

Name	Position	Category	Location
RNDr. Michael Prouza, Ph.D.	FZU Director	Researcher – R4	Prague
Ing. Iva Babčanová	Head of Personnel Department	Administrative	Prague
Ing. Jaroslav Bezděk	Head of Administration Unit - Slovanka	Administrative	Prague
RNDr. Martina Boháčová, Ph.D.	Deputy Head of Department	Researcher – R3	Prague
Ing. Jiří Červenka, Ph.D.	Science Secretary	Researcher – R4	Prague
RNDr. Antonín Fejfar, CSc.	Statutory Deputy Director	Researcher – R4	Prague
doc. RNDr. Petr Kužel Ph.D.	Senior researcher	Researcher – R4	Prague
Ing. Štěpán Potocký, Ph.D.	Researcher	Researcher – R3	Prague
Ing. Zdeňka Příhodová	Head of Administration Unit - Cukrovarnická	Administrative	Prague
Ladislav Půst, Ph.D.	Deputy Head of Division	Administrative/ Researcher R3	Dolní Břežany
RNDr. Jiří J. Mareš, CSc.	Deputy Director for Cukrovarnická site	Researcher - R4	Prague
Ing. Roman Hvězda	Deputy Director for ELI Beamlines and Hilase projects	Administrative	Dolní Břežany

Working Group HRS4R – members:

Implementation Team - Human resources – members:

(themes: recruitment and selection process, career growth, employee evaluation and training)

Name	Position	Category	Location
Ing. Lenka Černá	HR Coordinator	Administrative	Dolní Břežany
Mgr. Dominika Jírová	HR Coordinator	Administrative	Dolní Břežany
Bc. Olga Lakomá	HR Coordinator	Administrative	Dolní Břežany
Bc. Klára Daňková	Training and Mentoring Programme Coordinator	Administrative	Prague
Mgr. Ilona Gottwaldová BPhil Isl	Grant Office Manager	Administrative	Prague
Bc. Milada Moudrá	PR Manager	Administrative	Prague
Ing. Lucie Beránková	HR Coordinator	Administrative	Prague
Mgr. Pavla Novotná	Project Administrator	Administrative	Prague
Mgr. Ivo Svejkovský, MBA, Ph.D.	Manager for International Cooperation	Administrative	Prague
Ing. Iva Babčanová	Head of Personnel Department	Administrative	Prague
Mgr. Monika Hochmanová	Training and Mentoring Programme Coordinator	Administrative	Prague
Mgr. Simona Dačeva	HR Coordinator	Administrative	Prague

Name	Category
Lenka Černá	Administrative
Jiří Chudoba	Researcher R4
Jiří Vackář	Researcher R3
Alexander Kromka	Researcher R4
Petra Kšírová	Researcher R3
Olga Lakomá	Administrative
Dominika Jírová	Administrative
Lucie Beránková	Administrative
Petra Kratochvílová	Administrative
Iva Babčanová	Administrative
Monika Hochmanová	Administrative
Christelle Kadlec	Researcher R3
Klára Daňková	Administrative
Simona Dačeva	Administrative
Anna Artemenko	Researcher R3

Implementation Team - Working conditions – members:

(themes: revitalization of the working environment, “soft” working conditions, gender balance)

Name	Category
Lucie Beránková	Administrative
Ignacy Wolak-Sawicki	Researcher R4
Oleg Heczko	Researcher R4
Petra Tomášková	Researcher R1
Petra Boháčková	Administrative
Petr Kužel	Researcher R4
Eva Mihóková	Reasearcher R4
Miloslav Klinger	Researcher R1
Martina Toufarová	Researcher R2
Ivo Svejkovský	Administrative
Zora Ebermannová	Administrative
Ondřej Daneš	Administrative
Martina Boháčová	Researcher R3
Anna Lynnyk	Researcher R2
Marijke Anna Spanjer	Technical
Natalia Podoliak	Researcher R2
Filip Kadlec	Researcher R3
Simona Dačeva	Administrative
Anna Artemenko	Researcher R3

Alice HospodkováResearcher R4

Implementation Team - Public relations – members:

(the main theme:development of popularization activities)

Name	Category
Pavla Novotná	Administrative
Michal Marčišovský	Researcher R2
Jaromír Kopeček	Researcher R3
Martin Ledinský	Researcher R3
Oleg Lunov	Researcher R4
Kateřina Brejchová	Technical
Milada Moudrá	Administrative
Radek Kříček	Administrative
Michael Vích	Administrative
Anna Lynnyk	Researcher R2
Teťana Ostapčuk	Researcher R3
Andrew Taylor	Technical
Ivana Víšová	Researcher R1
Alena Bakalová	Researcher R1
Zdeňka Hájková	Researcher R2

Implementation Team - Internal Communication – members:

(themes: ethical aspects of the work of scientists, quality audit, procedures in complaints, ensuring bilingual communication at the FZU, effective communication)

Name	Category
Olga Lakomá	Administrative
Jaroslav Cvach	Researcher R4
Silvia Sedláková	Researcher R1
Jiří Oswald	Researcher R4
Irena Kratochvílová	Researcher R4
Josef Krása	Researcher R4
Pavla Novotná	Administrative
Hana Waňková	Administrative
Jarmila Barešová	Administrative
Ladislav Půst	Administrative/ Researcher R3
Marijke Anna Spanjer	Technical
Andrew Taylor	Technical

Choose your key topic and join the implementation team! Your are very welcome! Further information: Ivo Svejkovský, svejkovskyfzu [dot] cz

Other useful information:

Institute management

Institute council

Supervisory board

Ethics committee and Code