Project activities addressed new and current areas of operation of the EURAXESS network for the benefit of both non-mobile and mobile researchers. The goal of these activities is providing opportunities for the network members at all levels in EURAXESS, both through their national coordinators (the BHOs) and directly, to:
• consolidate their current services offered to researchers;
• plan and introduce new services gradually;
• utilise and ensure institutional support from their home institutions for their continuous professional operation;
• access training / networking opportunities and good practices;
• cooperate with other networks for higher impact; and
• contribute to a better definition of the future of the EURAXESS network and a lasting take-up of the results of the EURAXESS TOP III project.
Another set of activities is devoted to the development, testing and pilot introduction of new services on researchers’ career development within the EURAXESS network. Targeting researchers, these activities focus on:
• making available hands-on resources to assist researchers with their decisions related to their career;
• creating a more welcoming environment for researchers including both the institutional context and private life;
• integrating incoming third country researchers and reaching out to researchers beyond the EU; and
• assisting researchers within and outside academia, most notably the private sector;
• offering a new, consistent, adaptable and flexible model for integrating career development into the EURAXESS service model;
Finally, viewing the whole of the EURAXESS network, the project contributed to
• consolidating the current EURAXESS services portfolio, be it personal or electronic;
• enabling the further capacity building of the EURAXESS network members and meeting the challenge posed by staff turnover by trainings, twinning and study visits;
• opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange with a wide range of other networks;
• promoting the EURAXESS network among key stakeholders in a more efficient manner;
• preparing the network for the implementation of a consistent quality assurance and monitoring system operating on several levels; and
• working out a future vision for EURAXESS in light of the policy goals of the EC set for the period up to 2020.
An internal, horizontal funding scheme for support activities, carried out within the national networks themselves was in operation as a tested and successful mechanism refined in previous EURAXESS projects. Named the Network Call, this was available for all national EURAXESS networks in an easily manageable yet responsibly designed format administered within the framework of the project. Overall, 39 out of 40 national EURAXESS networks participated in the activities of this funding scheme that utilised 21.5% of the project budget.
By mid-2018, all 40 national EURAXESS portals have been fully redesigned and now work either technically or content-wise integrated with the European EURAXESS portal available at
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu(öffnet in neuem Fenster). The overall monthly page views of the portal pages exceed 1.2 million/month.
