In July, the Bratislava Declaration of Young Researchers – prepared for the Slovak Presidency of the European Union (EU) – was presented to the Council of Ministers responsible for competitiveness (Research)  from the 28 EU member states and European Free Trading Association countries. The declaration calls on member states and the European Commission to recognize the special role that young researchers play for science, development, innovation and economic growth in Europe.

 

The authors declared:

“1. We aspire to enable great people to realise their ideas to understand and improve the world.
2. We aspire to sustainable and transparent career trajectories.
3. We aspire to a diverse, collaborative, inter-disciplinary, open, and ethical research environment.
4. We aspire to a healthy work-life balance.”

 

These ideas are expanded upon within the Declaration itself. For example, the authors talk about a need for sustainable funding schemes for junior researchers and a call for a greater duty-of-care in training and career development of junior researchers, and greater transparency in career outcomes. Authors commented on how easy it was to reach a consensus across nations and indeed there is much agreement with ideas that have been expressed by junior researchers at Future of Research meetings in the U.S. also.

 

The Declaration will be submitted for adoption at the Competitiveness Council, Research section, in November 2016.

 

The authors of the Declaration are (with the countries they are currently working in):

Shane Bergin, Ireland

Sarah Glück, Germany

Miguel Jorge, UK

Ciara Judge, Ireland

Lynn Kamerlin, Sweden

Clara Isabel Luján Martínez, Spain

Emília Petríková, Germany

Piotr Sankowski, Poland

Charikleia Tzanakou, UK

Bruno González Zorn, Spain