Implementation/Embedding the HRS4R process

General overview of the implementation process: (max. 1000 words)

The employees of the Institute of Biophysics have a good understanding of the proposed HRS4R Gap Analysis (gap analysis questionnaire had 71% returnability, which shows an immense interest of employees in work/life balance).

      We aim to consolidate our position as a national centre for excellent research, while at the same time we are working on bolstering our position internationally. Every year more than 50 scientists of IBP participate (as principal investigators) in national grant projects and educate more than 70 pre-graduate and post-graduate students. Also, many scientists are (were) principal investigators in international projects.

        Base on the GAP analysis, we would like to support the mobility of scientists and students. Currently, they can obtain financial support for the mobility of research team members (accommodation costs and daily allowances) provided by the Division of international cooperation of the Czech Academy of Sciences. We are also going to establish a new IBP-internal program focused on the support of international mobility of university students, who realize their PhD study at the Institute. We plan to provide this support in parallel with several activities offered by universities (e.g., Erasmus+, CEEPUS, ISEP, Stella Junior, etc.). Within the HR Award strategy, we will bolster the evaluation of scientific results and other contributions. For example, during its on-site visit the International Advisory Board (ISAB) will evaluate all teams according to the level of their scientific papers, presentation of results, and visit of their laboratories. The ISAB provides an independent evaluation of all departments and their leaders, the nomination of the best PhD students for the ISAB award, and the recommendation of the best outputs for national evaluation. We will also award students with the best diploma thesis and we will establish the best paper of the year and other awards. If employees would like to increase their salaries, we will also establish the “improvement status” as a part of institutional attestations, wherein employees can introduce their results to the commission and can discuss how to improve their annual income. We will also strengthen and more specific rules for the recruitment of research scientists and department leaders. An Open-call for a new position will be advertised in scientific journals, EURAXESS, and on institutional web pages. We will also encourage women in science. Scientists returning after parental leave have a long-term problem with the placement of their children in pre-school facilities, especially in nurseries (for children aged from 1 to 3 years). The management of the Institute aims to maintain the newly built children's corner (nursery), which will be rented by a company taking care of preschool children. Therefore, the care for pre-school children will be on a high level and will be considered as an essential prerequisite for the recruitment of the highest quality researchers. According to a preliminary survey (GAP analysis), 8-10 employees are interested in placing their children in such a pre-school facility.

        We are also going to organize courses in management, biostatistics, language courses, eLearning, etc. for employees. Our scientific and social activities will be presented to a broader audience through our PR manager and his team.

          In the case of evaluation/appraisal, the expected implementation process will represent relatively small improvements (already existing evaluation procedures are quite strong and robust). These improvements can be implemented relatively easily in the years 2021-2024. Career progression and evaluation are tightly related and can be connected by considering these aspects by the evaluation bodies (commissions, ISAB members). Job descriptions will be improved in connection with the more transparent evaluation. During the whole period 2021-2024, the focus of the ISAB will be directed to the most general problems of the Institute in order to support excellence in science

In summary, our aim is to strengthen the so-called scientific incubator, recruit talented scientists with the potential to build a new perspective team, and submit their projects to the ERC agency. Current departments will be supported according to their size and scientific contributions, as well.

In a frame of HRS4R, we will establish several motivation tolls, including the Methodology Award or the Application Award., and we are also going to organize several advanced courses per year.

We will eliminate gender imbalance; we will support equality from the view of age, citizenship, social categories. From this view, we will use the support from the social fund working on solidarity level.

We revised our classification system V1-V6 and normalized it on EU categorization of research positions R1-R4.

Our implementation activities are listed in the following table:

Table showing HRS4R activities, indicators, timing, employment categories, and principles

How have you prepared the internal review? *

How have you involved the research community, your main stakeholders, in the implementation process?

Do you have an implementation committee and/or steering group regularly overseeing progress?

Is there any alignment of organisational policies with the HRS4R? For example, is the HRS4R recognized in the organisation’s research strategy, overarching HR policy

How has your organisation ensured that the proposed actions would be also implemented?

How are you monitoring progress (timeline)?

How will you measure progress (indicators) in view of the next assessment?

How do you expect to prepare for the external review?

Additional remarks/comments about the proposed implementation process: (max. 1000 words)

We have improved the Action Plan according to the recommendations given in the EC Consesnsus Report (mainly timing is set more precisely, measurable indicators are included in order to have SMART actions and priorities for institutional strategy as well as for HRS4R strategy are given). The improved Action Plan is here.

EC recommended us to make visible the link between HR strategy and institutional strategy. The corresponding document can be seen here.