No results...

Mobility patterns and career pathways of researchers: PPMI is leading the MORE4 study

16 May 2019

News
Mobility patterns and career pathways of researchers: PPMI is leading the MORE4 study

In May 2008 the European Commission initiated a European Partnership for Research. This Partnership has four key areas: 

  1. open recruitment and portability of grants; 
  2. meeting the social security and supplementary pension needs of mobile researchers; 
  3. attractive employment and working conditions; 
  4. enhancing the training, skills and experience of European researchers. 

The MORE (MObility of Researchers in Europe) studies serve as an integral part of the monitoring system designed for tracking the progress in all these areas.

The responsibility for the fourth iteration of this study (MORE4) was entrusted to PPMI and its partners – IDEA Consult and WIFO. Like its previous iterations, the MORE4 study aims to provide up-to-date and internationally comparable data, indicators and analysis focused on the mobility, career paths, working conditions and remuneration of researchers in Europe. As in MORE3, not only patterns, motives and barriers of mobility, but also mobility effects on individual researchers are being analysed. Our analysis, among other things, considers dual positions, virtual mobility, short-term mobility and collaboration of researchers in relation to international mobility, as well as motivating factors and barriers to intersectoral mobility. The MORE4 study is also characterized by stronger emphasis on issues, such as open, transparent and merit-based recruitment and implications of the Open Science concept.

The study consists of two large-scale surveys and an international indicator report based on a combination of existing data compiled from various secondary sources (Eurostat, World Bank, SHE Figures data, etc.) and information collected exclusively through the MORE4 surveys:

  • The EU HEI survey: a survey of more than 10,000 individual researchers currently working in higher education institutions in the EU (28 Member States + 3 Associated Countries). This survey addresses researchers with both EU and non-EU citizenship. It also includes researchers who have been mobile outside the EU but now have returned to work in the EU. It does not include EU and non-EU researchers who are currently working outside the EU. This survey is based on online and telephone interviews (CAWI and CATI).
  • The global survey: a survey of more than 4,000 individual researchers currently working outside the EU. The majority (but not all) of the researchers in the sample are employed by higher education institutions. The survey encompasses 1) EU researchers currently working outside the EU, 2) non-EU researchers who have worked in the EU in the past, 3) non-EU researchers who have not worked in the EU but who have been internationally mobile elsewhere and 4) non-EU researchers who have not been mobile at all.
  • The set of internationally comparable indicators: a selection of more than 30 key indicators on researchers, their careers and mobility will be developed and presented in colour-coded scorecards for quick reference to the main indicators on the topic.

Another deliverable of MORE4 project will be an indicator tool where the main indicators from the EU HEI surveys carried out in MORE2, MORE3 and MORE4 can be downloaded per country, gender, field of science, career stage and year (2012, 2016, 2019).

For more information on the progress of this study and its deliverables, please refer to the MORE4 website.