Early-Stage Researchers and Growing Career Uncertainty
Across Europe, early-stage researchers (ESRs) face growing uncertainty when it comes to building sustainable careers. Factors such as short-term contracts, uneven access to career guidance, limited mobility opportunities, and unclear progression pathways often make it difficult to plan the next step, particularly when transitioning beyond academia. These challenges tend to be more acute in EU Widening countries due to persistent structural constraints, evolving career support and HR practices, and limited opportunities for structured engagement with industry, the public sector, or civil society.
Expanding Expectations and the Rise of Transversal Competences
At the same time, expectations for researchers are expanding. Beyond scientific excellence, ESRs are increasingly required to demonstrate transversal competences such as research integrity, open science practices, collaboration across disciplines and sectors, communication and engagement, and the ability to translate research into societal and economic value. These competences are now clearly articulated at European level through ResearchComp, the European Competence Framework for Researchers, which defines the skills researchers need across all career stages and sectors.
The Gap Between Competence Frameworks and Institutional Practice
However, despite the existence of ResearchComp as a common reference framework, many institutions lack the mechanisms to operationalize it. Researchers may acquire these skills informally, but without structured training, assessment, or recognition, this makes it difficult to demonstrate their competences when moving across sectors. This gap between competence frameworks and institutional practice leaves many researchers under-supported precisely at a moment when labour markets are demanding greater flexibility and more impact-oriented profiles.
Green and Digital Transitions: New Demands, Limited Support
These challenges are further amplified by the twin green and digital transitions, which are reshaping research, innovation, and employment landscapes. Researchers are increasingly expected to contribute to sustainability, digital innovation, and societal resilience, yet the institutional systems supporting career development have not always evolved at the same pace. As a result, career progression remains fragmented, and talent circulation across sectors is constrained.
Why Strengthening Research Careers Is a Systemic Priority
Addressing these issues is not only a matter of individual career support, but also of systemic competitiveness. Without coherent HR practices, career services, and skills recognition aligned with frameworks such as ResearchComp, institutions risk losing talent, weakening innovation capacity, and limiting the societal impact of research.
How SMART Researchers Responds
This is the context in which SMART Researchers positions itself: strengthening research career ecosystems in Widening countries by aligning HR practices with European standards, embedding ResearchComp into training and certification pathways, and institutionalising career support structures that help researchers navigate diverse career routes.
Within SMART Researchers, iED contributes by connecting research careers with the Greek innovation and non-academic ecosystem, supporting cross-sector pathways, and contributing to training activities that strengthen researchers’ ability to create, demonstrate, and communicate impact beyond academia.
