Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R)

1 Register an individual EURAXESS member account

If you do not already have an EURAXESS account, you can:

• Navigate to https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/
• Click on the “LOGIN/REGISTER” menu item
• Perform the steps under the “Create new account” section

After performing the steps, you will receive an email with a link to the EURAXESS portal where you have to complete a form and establish your password.

2 Register an organisation

Once you have your individual member credentials, log in into the MY EURAXESS section. If the domain of the email address you use to register matches an existing organisation profile, you will be automatically invited to join. 

If this is not the case, click on "Search/Register" and fill in the name and URL (starting by https:// or http://) and click on "Search".

If your organisation does not appear or does not match exactly the profile of an already registered organisation, proceed to "Register an Organisation".

The details of the newly created organisation will be checked by the Help Desk to avoid duplicate registrations of the same institution. Once the organisation is approved, you will be informed by email and you can proceed with the next steps.

Normally registration requests are treated within the same working day.

3 Fill in the organisation profile details on EURAXESS

From MY EURAXESS dashboard, select from the left-hand side of the menu the section called "Organisation" and fill in the fields required.

This section is intended to illustrate the larger context in which the institution performs, its structure, its impact upon the communities it serves, as well as the resources leveraged. There are two categories of data required:

• Staff indicators to be presented as full-time positions (FTEs), and

• Budget and funding, if applicable, to be expressed as amounts in euro.

The institution must also provide a description of the “Organisational Profile”.

In this section, the institution must provide an overview of its current state and practice under the four thematic headings of the C&C (Ethical and Professional aspects, Recruitment and Selection, Working Conditions and Social Security, Training and Development). Information on current practices related to OTM-R should be also included here.

We strongly recommend elaborating on both strengths and weaknesses (although there is only one text block provided for both), as they will highlight the institution's rationale for setting and implementing actions.

Click on the name of each of the four thematic headings of the Charter & Code to open the editor and provide your answers. There will be several text blocks for each heading:

• Strengths and weaknesses (expressed in the Initial Phase for the application to the award),
• Strengths and weaknesses at Internal Review for the Interim Assessment/Award Renewal.

N.B. The institutions enrolled in the HRS4R e-tool at the Implementation/Award Renewal Phase will have to fill in only the text block regarding the “Strengths and weaknesses” at their current phase.

If the institution is willing to provide more information about the way the strengths and weaknesses context evolved or changed from the Initial to the Implementation/Award Renewal phase, there is a “Remarks” section within each of the tabs corresponding to the four headings of the C&C that can be used for this purpose.

The institution is also required to provide answers to specific questions regarding the way the organisation has operated after the acknowledgement of the ‘HR Award’. A text block is offered for the following questions, with the indication to elaborate the reply in maximum 500 words for each of them:

• Have any of the priorities for the short- and medium term changed?
• Have any of the circumstances in which your organisation operates, changed and as such have had an impact on your HR strategy?
• Are any strategic decisions under way that may influence the action plan?

For the third section of the Internal Review – Actions, the institution has to report on the status of achievement for each of the actions planned in the previous phase, alter actions or timing of actions if necessary, also to add new actions to be implemented in the next 36 months, after the Interim /Award Renewal Assessment:

a. Establish the status of achievement of the actions already planned:

The Actions section of the Internal Review form will be empty, in the sense that the institution will not find automatically imported the list of actions set in the initial phase (as it is the case of the institutions which have used the e-tool for the application to the ‘HR Award’).

In order to report on the status of achievement, the institution will have to fill in first the actions set in the previous action plan, with the details provided at that time (the gap they address, timing, responsible unit, indicators (KPIs), etc. If the status is “In progress” or “Extended”, the institution has to update the timing of achievement.

An action can address multiple gap principles. The “Select principle” menu will provide the opportunity to quickly select from the 40 principles of the C&C the one(s) the action addresses. The status of achievement will be set using the four options of the “Current Status”, as below. Details on the implementation process, difficulties or challenges encountered can be added in the “Remarks” column.

A list of the Gap principles not selected in any action is provided in order to facilitate planning and keeping an easier track of the principles that have to be addressed throughout the implementation and award renewal process.

b. Add new actions to the action plan for the next 36 months:

Once you have finalised the self-assessment regarding the status of achievement of the actions previously planned, you can proceed with adding new actions to be further implemented in the next 36 months.

The institution can customise planning based on its own priorities and creativity. There is the possibility to add as many new actions as needed. The click on “Add another row” will create a new field in the form for the addition of a new action, the Gap principle it addresses, the timing of implementation, the responsible unit and the KPI(s). For the new actions, the “Current Status” will be “New”.

There must always exist a match between the gaps identified in the Gap Analysis at Initial Phase and the actions planned in such a way as make sure all gaps are addressed throughout the HRS4R process, based on the institution’s own priorities and tactics.

Find details on how to plan actions on the Technical Guidelines for Institutions (2.88 MB) .

N.B. The institution must publish on the website the extended version of the reviewed/improved action plan/HR Strategy (including the OTM-R policy, as a mandatory requirement for the Award Renewal Assessment).