IRTA holds the HR Excellence in Research Award, granted by the European Commission to research organisations that endorse the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code for Conduct for Recruitment and are committed to implementing them through a structured process of continuous improvement.
IRTA obtained the award in 2015, reflecting its commitment to continuously improving the working environment, recruitment practices, career development opportunities and institutional support offered to researchers. Since then, IRTA has progressively developed its Human Resources Strategy for Researchers through successive action plans and internal review cycles.
The HR Excellence in Research process supports IRTA in aligning its human resources policies and practices with the European Charter for Researchers. It is based on periodic self-assessment, gap analysis, action planning, internal review and external assessment.
Since obtaining the HR Excellence in Research Award in 2015, IRTA has progressively strengthened its Human Resources Strategy for Researchers through successive action plans. These plans have supported improvements in recruitment, ethics, gender balance, researcher training, career development, Open Science, FAIR data, onboarding, international staff support and inclusive working environments.
Over time, the process has also become increasingly connected with IRTA’s broader institutional priorities, including its Strategic Plan, Equality Plan, CoARA commitments and the professionalisation of researcher recruitment and career development.
The implementation and follow-up of the process is supported by IRTA’s HRS4R Working Group, which brings together representatives from the People department, including the HR Director, Scientific Direction, researchers from R1 to R4, and a researcher representing the Workers Council.
The 2026–2029 Action Plan represents the next stage in this process. It focuses on embedding and monitoring the mechanisms already developed, while addressing new priorities such as responsible research assessment, OTM-R practices, researcher experience, support for international and early-career researchers, career development and talent management.
Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment, or OTM-R, remains a central component of IRTA’s HR Excellence in Research strategy as it shows IRTA’s OTM-R policy.
The 2026–2029 Action Plan includes actions directly linked to the continuous improvement of recruitment practices and to the professionalization of researcher recruitment. These include reviewing recruitment safeguards, optimizing ATS-based workflows, improving recruitment documentation, reviewing job advertisements from an inclusive-language perspective, monitoring candidate pools by sex and profile, diversifying outreach channels and reinforcing candidate communication and feedback practices.
IRTA also aims to further align recruitment and progression with responsible research assessment principles. In connection with IRTA’s CoARA commitments, recruitment and evaluation practices will increasingly recognise diverse research contributions, CV gaps, mobility, intersectoral experience and non-linear career trajectories.
In this section you can find informative documents about IRTA’s HR Policies:
