04 December 2009 | General
Making it Work: COST Family Friendly Policy
A recent decision from the CSO focuses on early stage researchers and their families.
In a more and more dynamic ERA, specific measures are required to improve career prospects of, in particular, researchers who decide to combine a challenging research career with a family.
COST has long considered gender balance as part of its strategic priorities and addressed more practical issues to achieve this in its updated early stage researcher strategy approved on 2 December 2009. The strategy lists a number of practical considerations to make meetings more accessible to researchers with family duties.
"With the unanimous approval of the family friendly strategy, yesterday's decision was the first 'baby' step in the right direction. COST would warmly welcome a discussion with other contributors to the ERA on what bigger steps to take next," concluded Professor Francesco Fedi, CSO President.
The original early stage researchers strategy was approved by the CSO on 29 March 2007. Meant to address the lack of opportunity for early stage researchers to develop independent careers in European Research and to establish their first research group under their own responsibility, the strategy immediately became a success.
"COST gives early stage researchers the chance to discover a new horizon," as Josepa Roca from the University of Giron in Spain once put it at a COST event.
