Pradeep Eranti
Fernanda Bajanca
Pradeep Eranti
Lidia Natalia Trusilewicz
Open consultation: identifying issues important for post-docs
Hello all,
With the aim to contribute to the MCAA polices (in cooperation with the Policy for Successful Researchers (PSR) working group), I would like to ask you for your input/feedback on the issues important for the postdoctoral researchers – both current MC fellows and alumni (receiving post-doctoral grants from other sources).
Namely, I am aware that many post-docs suffer due to instability in careers, short-term contracts, lack of independence, administrative barriers to mobility, difficulties to obtain senior positions or establish themselves as junior leaders of the groups, to take part in decision processes within institutions, to be project coordinators, low funding, lack of clear contracts, social security and pension contributions. Luckily, many of these items are not relevant for post-docs receiving MCAA grants, but I would like to hear your opinion on specific problems that you find important – regardless whether you are currently benefiting from the MC fellowship or you are alumni.
Hopefully this input will help us to identify more specific challenges and formulate suitable policies.
Thanks,
Snezana
2 Comments
Hello Marcin,
Thank you very much for your input, I found it interesting, especially that you identified potential solution. I will collect inputs from other post-docs and we will proceed with work on policies afterwords.
Thank you,
Snezana
Hi Snezana,
thanks for your inquiry, which may be really helpful for postdocs at this early and yet undetermined career stage.
I would start by a practical issue relevant to myself and, as far as I know, many other postdocs, during our postdoc appointment. I started my Marie Curie IOF postdoc by its outgoing phase in the USA almost three months ago and I've been overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork and administrative issues to deal with: there've been many days I've had to dedicate almost entirely to this, which has been preventing me from the research work on the project. What's more, I've been discovering many issues almost by chance on the way, and been sent from one office to another numerous times, and this is going on. This 'waste' of time refers to all the documentation required by both the universities involved and the EU, and increased by the fact that IOF fellowships involve non-European outgoing countries related to a more complex i.e. non-European institutional environment. Some examples of the endless paperwork are ethics committee reviews of the research, sponsored projects' office budget and other documentation, negotiating the partnership agreement, time worksheets, as well as more personal issues such as discovering and resolving the problems faced by foreigners regarding tax issues, healthcare benefits, etc. The conclusion is that after almost 10 weeks of the fellowship my main activity so far has been project management and administration, apart from the preparation of the planned research, and I've had to neglect the other main project activity I planned for this phase i.e. the review of the state of the art and and writing a publication.
My recommendation would be that the involved hosts, particularly in IOF projects, should introduce their fellows in the administrative and management structure of the projects, and give them some training on it at the beginning of the fellowship, a kind of a checklist and contact points for help. My outgoing host has done it partially with regard to the main issues for international scholars, and my return host European Projects Office answered some of my questions, however, as in the US I am a postdoc paid directly by another institution and as my project also goes through the universities sponsored projects' office, this has added a jungle of regulations to go through and settle between the EU and both the involved hosts, which I had to discover myself. Of course this is always part of any research project and I am happy to do it and learn it, but I don't think it should be the main project activity throughout months and without too much guidance. So maybe we could suggest some training policy in this respect.
Very best,
Marcin