Our institute fully endorses the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. As a consequence, it has adopted the following Strategy and Action Plan, based on an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the current practice.
Strategy
Our institute’s primary goal is to give every externally-funded project director—and the teams they assemble—the most supportive environment possible. This strategy is therefore designed to remove friction, foster excellence, and mirror the best practices set out in the European Charter & Code for Researchers and the HRS4R framework.
1 Ethics, integrity, gender & open science
We cultivate a culture in which scientific ethics and integrity is non-negotiable and visibly championed at every level. Research protocols, data handling, authorship, and public communication follow both national regulations and recognised international standards. Complementing this, we actively promote gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in research teams, advisory boards, and decision-making bodies, treating varied perspectives as a driver of creativity. Finally, we embrace the principles of open science—pre-prints, open-access publication, and FAIR data—so that our findings can be scrutinised, reused and amplified by the wider community.
2 Researchers’ assessment, recruitment & progression
Because our viability depends on the success of competitively funded projects, open, transparent and merit-based recruitment (OTM-R) is integral to our identity. This approach helps us attract top talent, reassure funders, and uphold public trust.
3 Working conditions & practices
Our day-to-day ethos is simple: administration should serve research, not the other way around. We streamline paperwork, digitise tasks and trust researchers to organise their own schedules. Flexible hours, hybrid working, and modern office space create an environment comparable with forward-looking private-sector companies and typically superior to that found in local public institutions.
4 Research careers & talent development
RIST acts as an incubator for scientific leadership. Emerging researchers are encouraged to take charge of their first projects within our institute. For other early-career scientists, hands-on collaboration with more experienced colleagues provides a rich training ground. In both cases, we see professional growth not as an individual luxury but as a collective investment that expands the institute’s knowledge base and enhances our attractiveness to future partners and funders.
Strengths and weaknesses of the current practice
As of July 2025, we have identified the following strengths and weaknesses of the current practice under the four thematic headings of the Charter and Code:
Ethical and professional aspects
Strengths:
Despite being a relatively small institute with fluctuating activity due to reliance on external funding, our work has been consistently driven by a deep passion for science and a commitment to building in Romania a research environment comparable in quality to those we experienced in developed Western countries—often exceeding the standards of typical public research institutions in Romania.
This vision has enabled us to attract emerging scientists with strong potential, leading to a robust publication record relative to the institute’s size and funding, as reflected in the publication list.
In addition to the output reflected in publications, our institute has engaged in several consulting contracts with startups, filed two patent applications, and organized several scientific summer schools and conferences.
Research ethics is a core focus of our mission. We are committed not only to promoting ethical standards but also to rigorously observing them in our own research practices. Members of our institute have even contributed to shaping national legislation on research ethics, underscoring our dedication to integrity and responsibility in science.
Weaknesses:
Since our research is externally funded, researchers are bound by the legal and contractual provisions associated to the funding contracts. While project directors are granted independence in their activity, within the limits of the legal obligations and contractual obligations associated with the financing of projects, the other members of project teams are subordinated to project directors. The freedom of public expression may be limited for the purpose of protecting intellectual property and for not harming the institute.
An appraisal system is established for all employees in the internal regulations of the institute, according to labor law. However, since our researchers are typically employed for fixed-term, this system has been seldom used. Law no. 183/2024 regarding the charter of R&D personnel, recently adopted, establishes that appraisals for researchers must happen no more often than once every 3 years, however the typical project duration is 2 or 3 years, and most employees are employed for the project duration, which implies that in most cases it will be legally impossible to organize appraisals.
Recruitment and selection
Strengths:
Our institute’s primary goal is to offer the best possible environment for project directors who lead externally funded research projects. These directors are interested in achieving high-impact scientific results in order to advance their research careers and be able to attract further funding. As a result, they are strongly motivated to attract the most qualified candidates for any open positions, with no conflicting interests. Consequently, our recruitment practices are inherently open, transparent, and merit-based, ensuring the highest standards in personnel selection.
Euraxess has been used to advertise all open researcher positions. Since we are a small institution, the share of applicants from outside the institution since its start was 100%. In the period 2017-2021, our institute was most likely the research organization in Romania with the highest percentage of researchers from abroad (e.g., 18% in 2020). We have had a significant, although not sufficient, representation of underrepresented groups such as women (31% in 2020), minorities (8% in 2020), LGBTQ+ persons (at least 2% in 2020), even if there have been no formal regulations or guidelines regarding this. An adequate representation will be solidified by the adoption of specific mechanisms.
Weaknesses:
There have been no formal regulations or guidelines regarding:
- facilitating access for disadvantaged groups or for researchers returning to a research career, including teachers (of any level) returning to a research career;
- an adequate gender balance for the selection committees;
- recognizing as valuable contributions all mobility experiences, including a change from one discipline or sector to another.
Working conditions
Strengths:
In line with our goal of providing optimal conditions for the researchers we host, minimizing administrative burden is a core value of our institute. While we strive to keep this burden to a minimum, national regulations or contractual constraints sometimes limit our ability to fully achieve this objective. The working conditions and office space we have been offering are comparable to those typically found in local private-sector companies, and typically superior to those available in public research institutions.
Flexible working hours and tele-working are often adopted within the institute.
Weaknesses:
The research environment provided by our institute is constrained by the available funding and the associated contractual and legal provisions.
Since the activity of our institute is typically funded by fixed-term projects, employment contracts are typically fixed-term, which prevents stability and permanence of employment and career development within the institute.
There have been no formal regulations or guidelines on providing career advice and job placement assistance to researchers.
Training and development
Strengths:
We frequently offer emerging scientists the opportunity to lead their first research projects as project directors, providing a valuable opportunity for professional growth and leadership development. Other early-career researchers at our institute build their skills through hands-on research under the mentorship of project leaders and more experienced researchers, as well as by participating in scientific conferences, workshops, and training events—including the summer schools we organized.
Weaknesses:
There have been no formal regulations or guidelines regarding:
- regular assessment of measures for the continuing development of skills and competencies for their accessibility, take-up and effectiveness in improving competencies, skills and employability;
- clearly identifying to whom early-stage researchers can refer for the performance of their professional duties, although in practice project directors fulfilled this role.
Action plan
The following actions will be undertaken to address the weaknesses or strengths identified in the above analysis:
Update of internal regulations
The internal regulations represent the main regulations of the institute that, by law, are binding to all employees. The internal regulations will be updated in order to account for the weaknesses observed in the gap analysis.
Timing: 3rd quarter, 2025.
Adoption of internal regulation for recruitment of the research personnel
At the national level, the recruitment of researchers is regulated by Law no. 183/2024 regarding the charter of research, development, and innovation personnel. This law was published on June 12, 2024, replacing the previous corresponding law, which had been in force since 2003. Following the new law, a further regulation of the procedures for organizing recruitment for research positions has been established through the methodological norms approved by Government Decision no. 1568/2024. Following the adoption of the new methodological norms, our institute will have to define its internal regulation for recruitment, in agreement with the methodological norms.
Through this action, we will adopt the institute’s internal regulation for recruitment, in agreement with the new national regulations, and taking as reference the OTM-R toolkit. It will include provisions that will account for the weaknesses observed in the gap analysis.
Timing: 4th quarter, 2025.
Adoption of a regulation regarding the appraisal of researchers
The new Law no. 183/2024 establishes that research organizations should adopt a regulation regarding the appraisal of researchers.
Through this action, we will adopt the institute regulation regarding the appraisal of researchers, in agreement with the principles set in the Charter and Code, to the extent allowed by the national law.
Timing: 1st quarter, 2026.
Gender Equality Plan
Drafting and adopting a Gender Equality Plan.
Timing: 2nd quarter, 2026.
Guideline addressing career development, access to career advice, mentorship/coaching of young researchers, and access to research training and continuous development
Drafting and adopting a guideline addressing the following topics:
- career development;
- access to career advice;
- mentorship/coaching of young researchers;
- access to research training and continuous development.
Timing: 3nd quarter, 2026.
OTM-R recruitment toolkit
The institute will use the OTM-R recruitment toolkit as a reference for all recruitment decisions. Its principles will be implemented in the new institute methodology for recruitment and promotion of the research personnel, within the limits permitted by the national regulations.
For future research projects that need to recruit, the institute will organize information sessions with the project director and the recruitment committee members in order to ensure that they are informed about the relevant regulations and policies, including the OTM-R policy. When the number of recruitments will be more than 10 yearly, a quality control system for OTM-R will be put in place.