New SNSF Grants: Flexibility Grants replace 120% Support Grants

Resources and documents

The SNF has launched a new vehicle: the SNSF Flexibility Grant. It is tailored to support researchers with young families. It facilitates part-time work, finances scientific support persons and contributes towards the costs of external child care to ease the double burden for researchers with children. With this new instrument, the SNSF continues his commitment towards equal opportunities for all researchers, which he has previously pursued with his 120% Support Grants.

The new vehicle is:

  • Open to more researchers
  • Including researchers with older children
  • Using a more favourable calculation method
  • More flexible
  • Easier to apply for

For further information please visit the SNSF’s Flexibility Grants website.

Actionuni recommends voting against the upcoming no-billag initiative.

Position paper, Resources and documents

It is not very common for actionuni providing a voting recommendation on political topics which do not concern the scientific staff at first sight. But since the no-billag initiative does have direct and indirect influence on higher education institutes and the scientific staff, actionuni clearly recommends voting no in the upcoming no-billag initiative, as (inter alia) the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and the fh-zh do.

Further arguments as well as a profound statement can be found here.

Statement on the new Framework Programme (FP)

Eurodoc, Resources and documents

Eurodoc has released a statement on the new Framework Programme (FP) for Research and Technological Development. The current programme FP8 or Horizon 2020 has been extremely successful with a budget of circa €80 billion and focusing on Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership, and Societal Challenges. The next programme FP9 will run from 2021 to 2027 and is currently being developed in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.

Eurodoc has identified four key issues for early-career researchers which they would like to be taken into account in FP9:

  1. Increase the Budget for Excellent Science and Early-Career Researchers
  2. Raise Awareness and Train and Support Researchers in Open Science
  3. Support Career Development and Intersectoral Mobility of Researchers
  4. Support Research into Work-Life Balance and Mental Health of Researchers

New representative to the SHK, Lena Hehemann

Events, Internal

We are happy to announce that actionuni has found an ad interim representative to the Schweizerische Hochschulkonferenz SHK / Conférence suisse des hautes écoles CSHE / Conferenza svizzera delle scuole universitarie CSSU.

Lena Hehemann (cand. Ph.D., Law Faculty, Insitute for European Law, University of Fribourg) will replace our current representative, Ruth Lyck (PD PhD, Medical Faculty, Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern).

We want to use this opportunity to sincerely thank Ruth Lyck for her dedication and continued endeavor on behalf of actionuni.

Eurodoc’s handbook for supervisors of modern doctorate candidates

Eurodoc, Resources and documents

The project SuperProfDoc has led to the publication of a new handbook on the best practices relative to the mentorship of doctoral candidates. Claudia Dobrinski and John Peacock, both from Eurodoc, included the results of numerous experiences of successful doctoral supervisions at European universities to support their study. “A handbook for supervisors of modern doctorate candidates” establishes the state of the art in the professional mentorship of Ph.D. candidates.

Eurodoc Conference 2017 “Open Science” and Annual General Meeting

Eurodoc, Events

At this year’s Eurodoc conference from 26-29 April 2017 in Oslo, Norway, Burim Ramaj and Cécile Blaser, both University of Fribourg, represented actionuni. Eurodoc is the European Association of doctoral candidates and young researchers. actionuni (Switzerland) is member in Eurodoc since 2006. In total, 32 organisations are member of Eurodoc, representing their respective European countries and the Council of Europe.

This year’s topic was of the Annual Conference of Eurodoc was “Open Science”, a heavily discussed topic also in Switzerland.

Continue reading Eurodoc Conference 2017 “Open Science” and Annual General Meeting →

NZZ dossier – Young academics for research

Press release, Resources and documents

On 5 April 2017, the NZZ has published an extensive dossier on the situation of the non-professorial academic staff in Switzerland. Co-president Florian Lippke took part in a dispute with swissuniversities president Michael Hengartner; co-president Andrea Tamas via telephone interview gave additional positions on the situation of the non-professorial academic staff at Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities of Teacher Education. The full dossier can be found here.