HR Excellence in Research

Creating new, taking responsibility and succeeding together are core values in our organization. We put our hearts into the development of our HR practices and work towards building a skilful, adaptable, diverse and international community. The Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) is a key tool in implementing this strategic development programme.

HRS4R is an initiative by the European Commission, supporting research institutions in developing the working conditions and recruitment of researchers. The HRS4R process focuses on embedding the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers in the HR policies and practices of the participating institutions. The European Union's policy is to make research an attractive career, which is a vital feature of its strategy to stimulate economic and employment growth.

University of Oulu joined the initiative in 2013 and received the HR Excellence in Research quality label in 2014. The label identifies organizations that progress in the development of their practices. In line with the five steps in the HRS4R process, the work is evaluated at regular intervals in order to maintain the quality label.

The HRS4R Action Plan describes the key actions we work on in the process. The initial Action Plan was drafted based on a gap analysis in 2013 and has been reviewed and updated regularly to reflect the progress of the actions and new development areas. Our Action Plan is based on, and fully integrated into our organisational strategy.

Our earlier HRS4R documents are HRS4R Action Plan 2019, HRS4R Action Plan 2016, HRS4R Action Plan 2014, and HRS4R Process 2014

Open, transparent and merit-based recruitment (OTM-R) is a cornerstone of our HRS4R process. Supporting our strategy, recruitment is active and aims at building a top-level staff. Get to know our OTM-R policy: