Recommendations

Science is made by people: it is important to have attractive environments and good recruitment practices to draw in the best researchers and students.

• Staff and student recruitments are the most important decisions that universities and research institutes make.
• National, international and intersectoral mobility enhances the quality, impact and renewal of science and research: mobility must be supported through career systems, recruitment practices and funding procedures.
• Multidisciplinary and phenomenon-based research is set to gain increasing importance; this must be reflected in recruitments.
• The importance of quality within individual disciplines will remain undiminished, however.
• Instead of quantitative indicators, recruitments must be based on broad assessments of scientific quality, impact and capacity for self-renewal.
• Research training must provide a strong and broad set of skills and competencies that are relevant to demanding and diverse research and advisory positions in different sectors of society.

High-quality, high-impact and attractive research and knowledge clusters are imperative for national development. These clusters will require profiling and collaboration among different actors. The building and development of the clusters will in turn require a strong funding commitment.

• Successful research and knowledge clusters are nowadays often built around a phenomenon-based approach.
• These clusters are crucial to the achievement of a 4 per cent R&D intensity.
• The development of research and knowledge clusters will require strong profiling, division of labour and collaboration among research organisations.
• The building and development of these clusters should be significantly supported through a strong funding commitment.

The opportunities offered by digitalisation and open science for the development of research and teaching provision must be seized with vigour.

• Digitalisation is profoundly and rapidly changing both research and teaching provision.
• Open science, which includes open publishing, data and open methods, improves the quality of research and contributes to expand the use of research knowledge in society. Every support must be given to new practices.