[c]

The UK research councils see attracting the best students into research careers and improving the employability of early-stage researchers as a key part of their strategic goals: see Research Careers: A strategy for success .  Amongst a wealth of material, two strands are particularly relevant. The first is the development of Vitae, an initiative to champion the professional and career development of researchers, which was launched in June 2008, alongside the new Concordat to support the career development of researchers.

The need to introduce a European dimension to careers was established in the Lisbon Strategy which aims to make 'Europe the most dynamic and competitive knowledge economy in the world by 2010' is to increase expenditure on research and development in Europe to 3% of GDP.

The Lisbon Strategy recognises the importance of the researcher in achieving this objective and the European Commission has adopted several new instruments aimed at contributing to the development of a European labour market for researchers:  

• ERA Expert Group on Researchers (October 2007)
• OECD Careers of Doctor Holders (CDH) project (June 2007)
• Eur-Future Conference, Stuttgart (May 2007)
• Charter and Code survey (May 2007)
• Charter & Code HE sector gap analysis (November 2006)
• Follow-up conference on the Charter and Code, Vienna (June 2006)
• Mapping the Charter and Code in the UK (January 2006)
• Proceedings of the UK Presidency Conference on the European Charter and Code (September 2005)
• European Charter for Researchers' and a 'Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers'
• The European Charter for Researchers
• The Code of Conduct for the recruitment of researchers
• Research Careers Initiative
• European Researcher's Mobility Portal
• The Researcher's Mobility Portal United Kingdom
• Researchers in Europe 2005 

The Revised Concordat

The Revised Concordat replaces the 1996 Concordat, which sought equal terms and conditions of employment and access to professional development for (largely fixed-term) research staff, as compared to their (mostly permanent) ‘academic’ colleagues.

The Revised Concordat emphasises the importance of recognising and promoting researchers’ career development and lifelong learning at all stages of their career although it notes that researchers share this responsibility and need to ensure that they engage proactively in opportunities. It has been signed by all of the Research Councils, Unions and Higher Education Institutions.

Roberts’ Funding

The Government has made substantial funds available to Higher Education Institutions to provide skills training for all of their early career researchers. There is a general expectation that such researchers should be able to undertake up to 10 days’ training per year. Roberts’-related training focuses around research management, personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking, team working, career management, business and enterprise. Further information is available at the Research Councils UK site.

ESRC Initiatives

The ESRC themselves place a high emphasis on the training and development of Social Sciences researchers at all stages of their career, and have established a Researcher Development funding stream to support projects developing both generic and subject-specific training. Details of projects funded through the Researcher Development Initiative (RDI) can be found on the RDI website.