HR Excellence in Research

In December 2017, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft was awarded the Logo »HR Excellence in Research« from the European Commission in recognition of its outstanding Integrated Human Resources Management. Fraunhofer was one of first organizations for applied research in Germany to receive the Logo.

The European Commission adopted the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (in short: »EU-Charta & Code«) in 2005 Charter & Code for Researchers | EURAXESS. The European Union considers the 40 principles of the »EU-Charta & Code« as a major factor for the attractiveness of scientific institutions as employers and for their commercial success. As Europe’s leading organization for applied research and as project partner in many EU-projects, Fraunhofer fulfills these principles. By signing the European Charter and Code for Researchers in 2013, the Executive Board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has clearly indicated to the outside world its commitment to this issue.

• Fraunhofer Code of Conduct Endorsement Letter [PDF 0,09 MB]

The »EU-Charta & Code« covers amongst others: recognition of the profession, career development, value of mobility, recruitment principles, selection criteria, postdoctoral appointments.

The Board Division Human Resources, Legal Affairs and IP Management submitted a »Human Resources Strategy for Researchers – HRS4R« for Fraunhofer in summer 2017. A detailed internal analysis and an action plan were prepared for this purpose. In doing so, representatives of the scientific and the administrative staff were consulted as well as staff from research strategies. On this basis, Fraunhofer was awarded the EU logo »HR Excellence in Research« in December 2017.

The EU Commission expects an internal audit to be carried out two years after the EU logo has been awarded. Fraunhofer successfully passed this internal audit in autumn 2019. Most of the measures were completed on time and at the same time further targets were defined for the coming years. In addition, Fraunhofer presented the checklist for Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruiting (so-called »OTM-R Checklist«). The summary of the internal audit, the updated, extended action plan and the OTM-R-Checklist can be found here.