Looking after the growth layer

Attracting and retaining the brightest research talents is becoming harder. For this reason, Health has recently formulated a new recruitment policy that establishes a framework for recruiting and developing research talents at all levels, as well as a profile for future academic career paths at Health.

What are we doing?

Our recruitment policy is based on the strategic goals and priorities in the field of talent development laid down in Health’s strategy for 2013-2017, and it establishes common goals and guidelines at all levels of a career path at Health:

• Undergraduate level
• PhD level
• Assistant professor and postdoc level
• Special career positions (tenure track)

“There must be absolutely no doubt about what we have to offer talented researchers who wish to embark on a research career at Health. At the same time, we want to make absolutely clear what is required of anybody wanting a research career at Health, in terms of qualifications and progression. We will do so based on an assessment of academic, organisational and personal competencies,” explains Lise Wogensen Bach, Vice-Dean for Talent Development.

The policy also comprises increased support for career development in the form of systematic supervision and mentoring, for example.

Who is responsible?

The department heads and the faculty management team must be systematic in their efforts to ensure talent development, a growth layer of young researchers, and the retention of top researchers.

“Of course, overarching responsibility for talent development at Health rests with me and with Ole Steen Nielsen, the Vice-Dean for Research. In practice, however, the department heads will be the ones tasked with implementing our new recruitment policy. I expect the department heads and others involved in the recruitment of new talents to bring the policy to life in their everyday work. By this, I mean that we need to increase awareness of how new talents are recruited, of the qualifications we want, of how young researchers are to be challenged to develop their research potential, and how they are advised on their career opportunities,” adds Lise Wogensen Bach.

Health’s new recruitment policy has been approved by the Dean’s Office and the faculty management team, and it will be an important element when we start laying down employment procedures and assessment criteria for academic positions at Health in the immediate future.

The effect of Health’s new recruitment policy will be evaluated after 3-4 years.

To find out more and see the entire recruitment policy with details of – and strategies for – the various career stages, see the Health website.

You can also read the Danish article entitled “Forskernes karrieremuligheder bliver tydeligere“, which lays out the changes introduced in the Job Structure for Health 2013.

Key points of Health’s new recruitment policy:

• HE must recruit the best and most promising researchers from around the world.
• Moving forward, HE must offer clearer and more coherent research talent and career paths. These paths must be flexible, and clear requirements must be stipulated for academic, organisational and personal competencies at each stage of the research career.
• Talent development, taken to mean recruitment of the best research talents and the realisation of the individual’s potential through the PhD programme and training, must be incorporated from as early as undergraduate level in the form of additional opportunities for undergraduate research and research-related activities.
• A varied range of high-quality elective subjects, projects etc. must be on offer at both Bachelor and Master’s level for students who are interested in research and who wish to be challenged over and above the curricular activities.
• HE must work consistently to ensure attractive research environments, including teaching, supervision and courses of a high quality.
• Health must offer tenure track programmes to top researchers from around the world.
• Research talent development at HE must create value for HE and AU.