Newsletter
Dear Member,
While writing this message to you, we are all in shock and disbelief observing the devastating events in Ukraine. Together with Eurodoc, we jointly issued a statement calling European policymakers and all relevant organisations to stand against this aggression and provide support to the citizens and researchers of Ukraine. In addition, we are in touch with our partner organisations and neighbouring chapters to provide adequate support to the researchers of Ukraine. MCAA also opened a restricted group at our portal to provide safe space for the MCAA members who are from Ukraine or were in the country as part of their fellowship. As a volunteer organisation, we have very limited resources, but we are committed to and will try our best to support our members and fellow researchers. To this aim, a fundraising campaign has been launched to support two projects led by our members and an MCAA-led project that will help displaced researchers resettle in safe countries.
On a different note, this message will be the last message from this board. As you are reading this, the MCAA is scheduled to elect a new board during its General Assembly on 27th March, 2022. So, let’s look back at this board’s achievements.
The current board was elected at the very beginning of the pandemic, when our scheduled 2020 Annual Conference needed to be cancelled. Like everyone at that moment, we were juggling through the new norms. It was particularly challenging as many of our activities and members' engagements happened during face-to-face meetings. As a result, we quickly provided platforms for our global chapters to organise online meetings.
We organised our 1st Virtual Conference in November 2020 with the support of our Croatian task force members. During our 2020 reporting year, our global chapter and working group organised over 120 events, attracting more than 6,000 participants. Among those events, 28% were focused on science policy, 22% on research funding,19% on career development and 21% on diversity. In this period, we have offered microgrants to our members for online/onsite courses, conferences, and open science publication fees. Our 2021 Annual conference attracted more than 500 participants online joining over 15 sessions.
We quickly realised the need to provide online career development opportunities, which is why we initiated MCAA Learning and provided complimentary access to LinkedIn Learning, Coursera and eCornell platforms to the members belonging to different groups, such as active volunteers, differently-abled researchers, researchers at risk and researchers from developing and widening countries. In addition, we started working on the development of a mentoring platform. We are very happy to announce that currently the pilot phase of Mentoring (MCAA Academy) is ongoing and after the evaluation, we would be happy to provide different mentoring opportunities focusing on career paths (e.g., career in policy, industry, non-profit) as well as on different topics (e.g., Open Science, Science Diplomacy).
Over the past two years, MCAA was very active and vocal on different policy issues, starting from the budget cut on Horizon Europe, the discussion on Open Science, ERA governance structure, inclusion of the UK in Horizon Europe, researchers’ assessment and many others. We have provided structured feedback to policymakers as well as other different stakeholders. Some of our initiatives saw a very successful outcome - budget increase to Horizon Europe, inclusion of the UK in the Horizon Europe programme. One such initiative was the inclusion of seven different stakeholders groups in the ERA Forum for transition. One of our members, Renaud Jolivet as a representative of ISE, will provide the voice for individual researchers on this platform. Also, Karen Stroobants is currently part of the core drafting group of the Reformation of Researcher Assessment initiative. In the last two years, MCAA also became a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and the European Science Diplomacy initiative.
From an organisational perspective, we created a Management Working Group to restructure support to the chairs of chapter and working groups. This working group already organised a Chairs Conference in 2021 and provides continuous onboard training to new MCAA leaders. We created an ethics group who prepared a code of conduct for the board members, which is due to be approved by the next General Assembly. To efficiently communicate with internal stakeholders, we also started an internal newsletter for the chairs of chapter and working groups. In addition, we have started the work to change our Article of the Association. We have also created two new working groups - Survey and Career Development Initiative.
In the past two years, the pandemic didn't stop us from working to establish a sustainable future for the Association. Our effort was recognised by the relevant stakeholders, who invited us to take part in numerous events and consultations. Recently, two of our proposals were granted funding: one focusing on Citizen Science and the other on researchers’ assessment.
In addition, the structure of the support from the European Commission to the Association will change. We just submitted a proposal as a mono-beneficiary as part of the call to support MCAA. If positively evaluated, MCAA will be able to receive funding from the Commission in the form of a grant, without the need for a contractor. That would give MCAA more flexibility in its operation, but would also come as a challenge. If the grant is provided, MCAA will need to manage its own operation by hiring or receiving service from employees or service providers. So, I kindly ask you to provide your full support to the new board managing this Association in this transitional phase.
Looking forward, I see a few areas where the Association can create major impact in the future:
Operational Management: So far, the Association was managed by volunteers. With the exponential growth the Association has experienced, volunteers need to spend a lot of time on operational management. From my personal experience, Chair needs to spend on average over 80 hours/month on the Association. As reflected in the last election calls, vice-chairs also need to invest more than 40 hours/month. This is not sustainable for the longer term. This is why, when possible, the Association should ensure that sufficient personnel is available to provide support covering the overall operation of the Association, policy advice, community management, relationship management and other necessary areas. In addition, the Association should invest in raising its own funds by organising events, crowdfunding or even traditional fundraising activities.
Structured Feedback and Policy work: In order to understand the challenges of researchers in general and of MCAA members in particular, regular surveys would help the Association understand our members’ as well as researchers' needs. This will allow structured policy feedback to relevant stakeholders.
Members’ engagement: Active volunteers are the heart and soul of this organisation. Based on the feedback from our members, activities dedicated to engaging members across borders and discipline will be designed. The Association could work as a hub for the members to jointly develop ideas to provide opportunities in career development or collaborate on a range of different topics. In addition, the Association could formalise the support it provides to the various underrepresented groups - unemployed members, researchers at risk, differently-abled researchers and many others.
Relationship Management: In the past four years, the Association collaborated with various national and international organisations working in diverse areas. These relationships need to be nurtured and strengthened in the future. The Association could be proactive by offering collaboration opportunities to various partners, collaborators and stakeholders by acting as an intermediary. One option could be to take part in proposals or projects which are aligned with the strategic vision of MCAA.
In our past 2 years’ journey, I had the pleasure of collaborating with so many members, partners and stakeholders, it would be impossible to mention each individual name.
The work we have done together could not be achieved without the support of our active volunteers, Chairs and members of chapters and working groups, former and current MCAA support team, different task forces and group members (GA task forces, Sponsorships, Policy, Research Funding) and YOU. I would like to thank all our external and internal stakeholders for their continued support to the Association, Partners, Sponsors and many others.
I would like to personally thank all our current board members for their contribution to the MCAA, a very special thanks to the two awesome vice-chairs Fernanda Bajanca and Valentina Ferro, and our board member Gledson Emidio for their extraordinary support in past years.
Personally, I joined this Association at its beginning and have actively contributed to its progress. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to lead this Association over the past four years, two years as a chair and two years as a vicechair. It has been a roller coaster ride, I have tried my level best and given my all efforts to make it an inclusive and diverse organisation. I truly hope that whatever I did will make a long-lasting impact to create a better and sustainable MCAA.
Thank you for being with us and I invite you to actively take part in the Association and be part of shaping the exciting future of MCAA.
Mostafa Moonir Shawrav
Chair of MCAA