This guide addresses the recruitment of research personnel at the Romanian Institute of Science and Technology (RIST).
RIST scientists are funded through grants provided by the government, European funds or private donors; there are no permanent positions, no base funding nor any endowment. Grant proposals typically include, in the project’s team, nominated persons and eventual open positions. This guide addresses recruitment for open researcher positions, not the hiring of persons nominated in the grant proposals, nor the hiring of non-research personnel.
The recruitment of researchers in Romania is regulated by Law no. 183/2024 regarding the statutes 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, the regulation for organizing competitions for research positions is to be established through methodological norms approved by government decision (art. 21 para. (4) of Law no. 183/2024). These methodological norms have not yet been approved, and only a preliminary version has been subject to public debate. Following the adoption of the new methodological norms, our institute will have to define its methodology for recruitment and promotion of the research personnel, in agreement with the methodological norms.
RIST fully endorses the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. In line with this endorsement, the institute is committed to the principles of open, transparent and merit-based recruitment (OTM-R) and has adopted an OTM-R policy based on the OTM-R toolkit developed by the Working Group of the Steering Group of Human Resources Management under the European Research area.
Therefore, the recruitment of research personnel at RIST has to comply with:
- Law no. 183/2024 regarding the statutes of research, development, and innovation personnel;
- The methodological norms of this law, after their adoption by the government;
- The institute methodology for recruitment and promotion of the research personnel, after its adoption following the adoption by the government of the methodological norms of the law;
- The institute’s OTM-R policy.