We are currently looking for candidates for a co-president position (unpaid). Please find the call here. The deadline to apply is November 15th.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
REFLEKT’s article on the abuse of power in Swiss academia
“«Have you experienced abuse of power at your university?» we asked in a nationwide survey. Within a very short time, 180 people responded. Their accounts reveal a structural problem in academia.”
We are well aware of this and have been fighting against it for years, yet we can never become accustomed to the sheer scale of abuse of power in academia.
Recherche-Team REFLEKT’s investigation has given our colleagues a voice and thoroughly investigated the causes of this widespread abuse of power, for which we are extremely grateful.
These are not isolated cases, but rather systemic dysfunction that allows a few people to destroy others with complete impunity, and it must stop!
You can find the article in English and German on REFLEKT’s website.
actionuni has a fresh new look!
If you spot our new logo out in the wild, don’t worry – your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you! We have given ourselves a much-needed makeover with a brand new logo and corporate identity.
But rest assured, behind the shiny new look, we are still the same actionuni you know: fighting for the rights of mid-level academic staff at research institutions across Switzerland.
Call for delegates
We are currently looking for new delegates to represent actionuni in the Swiss Accreditation Council, Eurodoc and in the area of Open Science. Please find the details for each position below.
Call for a delegate to the Swiss Accreditation Council
Call for a delegate for Open Science
Call for a delegate to Eurodoc
THE CALL FOR THE OPEN SCIENCE AND EURODOC POSITIONS IS CURRENTLY CLOSED.
Anti-austerity meeting
The Federal Council confirmed today it will proceed with the plans for the major federal budget cuts (approximately 500 million per year). These reductions will significantly impact (among others):
– The ETH
– The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), affecting future doctoral candidates, postdocs, and Ambizione fellows
– The students, by affecting the teaching quality and student mobility funding
Today, actionuni and Swiss universities’ mid-level staff associations held their first meeting to address these austerity measures. More information will follow.
How to do Better Science-a roundtable with Joel Schaad from the Better Science team
On 31 May 2021, actionuni held a roundtable on the theme of improving research culture with Joel Schaad, the project coordinator of Better Science as the main speaker. Researchers from several Swiss Higher Education Institutions participated. Delegates, board members and some guests of actionuni were invited in this roundtable. The main objective of actionuni was to promote and support the better science initiative.
Joel presented Better Science
, a Swiss-wide initiative that started in the University of Bern. It aims to raise awareness around the theme of healthy research culture in academia and to open the dialogue on how to improve it. In particular, Better Science has crafted ten calls to action, which can be found and supported on their website. The presentation was followed by a round of discussion, during which the members of the audience actively asked questions and shared their opinion on this important topic. Participants agreed that there is a need to improve research culture and appreciated the charter and direction set by Better Science. Several attendees were of the opinion that to achieve a better research culture, structural changes and concrete measures coming from the top are needed. The question of how to monitor the evolution of research culture was also raised.
Overall, the event successfully engaged researchers from different universities and led to interesting discussions, with the prospect of a follow-up workshop or event related to the topic of improving research culture.
actionuni’s first Open Science Workshop held on 29 April 2021
On 29 April 2021, actionuni held a 1.5-hour workshop online on Zoom in collaboration with MVUB (Mittelbauvereinigung Universität Bern), Eurodoc (European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers) and OILS (Open Innovation in Life Sciences).
Fifteen early-career researchers from the Universities of Bern, Lucerne, Zurich, Geneva and the ETH Zürich participated in the workshop. After a welcome address by co-president Rashmi Rai-Rawat, the presenter, actionuni board member Melanie Röthlisberger, gave a broad overview of Open Science practices with a particular focus on Open Access, covering topics such as routes to Open Access, its benefits and disadvantages, and national read-and-publish contracts in Switzerland. After introducing the main policy makers in Switzerland and their requirements and strategy, the participants then had to assemble information on structural conditions around Open Science at their own institution, such as the existence of Open Science Policies, (financial) support for Open Science
, and name of the institutional repository. Despite the small number of participants, discussions were lively and in-depth political, showcasing the high interest that early-career researchers have in the impact of open science policies and the changing publishing landscape on their academic work.
Covid19: and the gender gap gets bigger
Please follow this link to a new analysis on Nature.
Actionuni wants you!
Actionuni is opening up positions in its core and extended board. If you
a) are a Switzerland-based mid-level staff member
b) are enthusiastic about supporting mid-level staff across Switzerland
c) have capacity and interest in teamwork,
please take a look at our open positions advertisement and apply!
OECD Task force on research precariousness-an analysis
Please follow the link below to reach a detailed and ongoing analysis of research precariousness carried out by the OECD with the support of actionuni-nominated participants:
http://www.oecd.org/sti/science-technology-innovation-outlook/research-precariat/