HR Excellence in Research Process

What is the process whereby institutions can gain the European Commission HR Excellence in Research Award?

1. The institution conducts an internal analysis to compare practice against the Charter and Code; [in the UK, the analysis should compare institutional policy and practice against the Concordat]
2. The institution publishes an action plan for aligning more closely with the Charter and Code (what, by when, by whom); [in the UK, the implementation/action plan should relate to the Concordat]
3. The Commission will acknowledge the strategy [in the UK this will be a joint acknowledgement from the European Commission and the Chair of the Concordat Strategy Group. Once acknowledged, institutions can use the HR Excellence in Research logo]
4. Through their own internal quality assurance mechanism, institutions will carry out a self-assessment at least every two years to test and update their action plans
5. At least every four years an external evaluation will take place.

In the UK, a process linked to reviewing progress on the Concordat implementation will enable institutions to fulfil steps 4 and 5 of this process.