The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers are a set of guidelines adopted by the European Commission in March 2005 as part of the EU's policy to increase the attractiveness of research careers. The Charter recommendations aim to provide equal rights and obligations for individual researchers throughout Europe by specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, as well as those of funders and/or employers of researchers. The guidelines of the Charter and Code address all European research organisations and universities, both public and private, and are to be implemented on a voluntary basis.
The IUA engaged extensively and intensively in the development of the Charter and Code through consultation with national stakeholders in the universities, government agencies and other representative organisations (IBEC etc), playing a lead role in the discussion of the Charter and its implementation at the UK Presidency conference (8-9 September 2005).
In order to examine how the Charter and Code relate to existing practices and current national legislation in Ireland, the IUA conducted a comprehensive gap analysis exercise to identify areas of overlap and potential difficulties for the implementation of the recommendation in Irish universities. The gap analysis involved a detailed examination of the individual sections of the Charter and Code, comparing and contrasting these with a wide range of existing legislation and policies.
On the basis of the findings of this gap analysis, the IUA has concluded that the overall principles of the Charter and Code are consistent with current practice in Ireland. No major conflicts were established with only some minor points requiring further clarification, mostly with regard to their definition or wording. The University Heads signed up to the Charter on 13th September, 2006 as part of the Co-operation Accord which states as follows:
"We recognise the value of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment and support and endorse the principles set down in them and wish to build on them"