Career Development Rules for CAS Employees with a University Degree
In line with the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences and with the Concept of development and research of the CAS, while taking into account recommendations of the committee on the European Charter for Researchers, and finally, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (2005/251/EC), the Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences publishes the following Career Development Rules for CAS employees with a university degree (hereinafter “Career Development Rules” only) approved at the XXXIII meeting of the Academy Assembly of the CAS on 16 December 2008.
Article I
General Provisions
1. The Career Development Rules regulate the position of CAS employees with a university degree at research departments of CAS institutes (hereinafter referred to as “employees” only). The establishment, changes and termination of employment are governed by the relevant labour law regulations.
2. In accordance with Section 16 (1) of Act No. 283/1992 Coll., on the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, as amended, employees are recruited on the basis of a selection (recruitment) procedure announced by the Director of a CAS institute (hereinafter “institute” only). The recruitment procedure is regulated by Article 51 of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
3. Performance, creativity, results, and achievements of employees are regularly evaluated. During the evaluation, employees must not be discriminated in terms of gender, age, origin, religion, political opinion, etc.
4. Based on the evaluation results, the employees are assigned to the relevant qualification grades (Article 22 (2) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences). The result of this assessment is crucial for further career advancement and salary of the employee. The employee may also be evaluated at the request of her/his supervisor, or at the employee’s own request.
5. Staff remuneration is governed by internal payroll rules, which define salary categories based on the specific qualification grades.
6. Employees adhere to the Code of Ethics for Researchers of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
7. Employees strive to continuously improve their skills and develop their qualifications and abilities. The institutes provide conditions for professional growth.
8. Depending on their capacities, employees shall also contribute to educational and public outreach activities which are crucial for the qualification improvements and for making knowledge widely available. The CAS considers teaching to be an important activity performed by employees of its research institutes.
Article II
Qualification Grades
In CAS, the following qualification grades are applied to employees with a university degree (Article 22 (2) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences):
1. Research assistant – an employee with a university degree; usually works to support research of the team.
2. Graduate student – an employee who is enrolled in a doctoral study programme (typically Ph.D.).
3a. Postdoctoral fellow – an employee who has recently completed her/his doctoral study programme; usually works under the supervision of experienced scientists and publishes her/his results individually and/or as part of a team. The employee may remain in this category for no more than five years after receiving her/his doctoral degree.
3b. Associated scientist/scholar – an employee who has not been assigned to category 4 or 5 within five years of obtaining her/his doctoral degree.
4. Scientist/scholar – a researcher who has obtained a doctoral degree in her/his field; works independently and performs highly demanding and complex scientific work in her/his field. Regularly publishes research papers in domestic and foreign peer-reviewed journals or magazines and usually is assigned to work on grant or programme projects.
5. Senior scientist/scholar – a researcher complying with grade 4 qualification requirements. In addition to the grade 4, she/he is also a leading scientific personality significantly involved in the development of her/his scientific field on an international scale.
Article III
Researchers
1. Employees in qualification grades 3a, 3b, 4 or 5 are researchers (article 22 (4) of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences).
2. The positions of researchers are regulated by Article 24 of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
3. Activities of researchers are regularly evaluated at least once every five years (Article 23 (1) of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences).
Article IV
Emeritus Scientists/scholars at the Czech Academy of Sciences
1. Scientists may be granted the status of emeritus scientist/scholar at the Czech Academy of Sciences as a recognition of their lifelong successful scientific work and contribution to the development of the institute and the relevant scientific field.
2. An emeritus scientist/scholar must meet the following conditions:
a) is or has been in qualification grade 5 of the institute which submitted the proposal for the recognition;
b) is a recipient of the government retirement pension.
3. Emeritus scientist/scholar of the Czech Academy of Sciences is appointed by the CAS President (Article 7 (f) of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences) on the basis of a justified proposal of the Director of the institute, which was discussed and approved by the Board of the institute.
4. Emeritus scientist/scholar of the Czech Academy of Sciences is appointed without any time restrictions, has the rights of a member of the Assembly of Researchers (Article 25 (2) of the Appendix to the CAS Statutes) and is not subject to regular evaluations.
5. Emeritus scientist/scholar of the CAS has the right to attend the institute, to be informed about the work performed at the institute, and to be invited to important events.
Article V
Evaluations
1. The general purpose of these assessments of achievements includes the following:
a) to contribute to the improvement of the level of scientific activities at the institute;
b) to create a basis for sound human resources policy at the institute;
c) to compare results of employees under the relevant qualification grades;
d) to stimulate employees to strive for continuous professional growth;
e) to provide employees with regular opportunity for self-reflection.
2. Evaluations are focused solely on the scientific, professional and pedagogical work of an employee.
3. Regular evaluations (Article III (3)) do not apply to:
a) Directors of institutes who are appointed to the position on the basis of a selection procedure and whose activities are evaluated by the Supervisory Board of the institute and the Academy Council of the CAS in other contexts and terms;
b) visiting researchers who are employees of other domestic or foreign organisations;
c) emeritus scientists/scholars at the Czech Academy of Sciences;
d) pensioners (based on the Director’s decision) who are recruited for a maximum of one year.
4. Evaluations are carried out by the Evaluations Committee appointed by the Director of the institute (Article 23 (2) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences) after discussion with the Board of the institute (Article 11 (b) of the Appendix to the Czech Academy of Sciences). The Evaluations Committee has at least five members, and at least one third of them must not be employees of the institute.
5. The Evaluations Committee usually meets once a year, the frequency of its meetings may be higher based on the need of the institute.
6. Multiple and mutually coordinated evaluations committees may be established at the institute as needed.
7. Based on the specifics of the relevant scientific discipline, and on the conditions valid at the institute and on the provisions of these Career Development Rules, the Director of the institute shall establish criteria for the assessment within the meaning of Article 11 (d) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Institutes with similar focus may discuss issues regarding the evaluation criteria between each other and if appropriate, they may establish joint evaluation committees.
8. The Director of the institute shall ensure that the evaluation criteria are announced so that the evaluated employee is informed about these criteria in due course and may prepare documents required for the evaluation.
9. Evaluations Committee
a) shall verify that all employees who are to be evaluated are familiar with the evaluation criteria;
b) shall request a brief report from the evaluated employees on the basis of the established criteria including relevant documentation describing their activities performed since the last evaluation;
c) shall request an expert opinion of the direct supervisor of the evaluated employee as well as a proposal for qualification grade placement of the employee and the employee’s work contract.
10. The actual evaluation shall be carried out by the Evaluations Committee in the form of a meeting and in the presence of the direct supervisor of the evaluated employee; the evaluated employee has the right to be present.
11. The conclusions provided by the Evaluations Committee including recommendations for the Director of the institute must include, in addition to the brief assessment of the employee’s scholarly activities, also the following:
a) a proposal to include the employee in the given qualification grade; the qualification grade may remain unchanged or it may be increased or decreased;
b) a proposal whether an employment contract is to be concluded for an indefinite or for a fixed period including recommendation for the employment duration;
c) as for an employee who was found ineligible based on the evaluation (Article 23 (3) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences), the Evaluations Committee shall include in the minutes report a proposal for the Director of the institute to ask the employee in writing to remedy shortcomings in her/his work – in line with Section 52 (f) of Act No. 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code. The Evaluations Committee shall propose a date for the next evaluation, which shall assess whether the given shortcomings have been corrected, or if the Director is to be submitted with a proposal which shall terminate the employment with the concerned employee.
12. The evaluated employee must be familiar with the exact wording of the proposal and conclusions of the Evaluations Committee and must be given the opportunity to comment on it. If there is no agreement between the opinion of the Evaluations Committee and the evaluated employee, the employee’s objections and comments shall be attached to the conclusions of the Evaluations Committee and together submitted to the Director of the institute.
13. The evaluated employee may apply for her/his evaluation meeting to be open to the public (Article 23 (3) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences). The Director of the institute shall satisfy the request of the employee.
Article VI
Classification Based on Qualification Grades
1. Placement of an employee in a certain qualification grade and in the appropriate salary grade, specification of salary and the duration of the employment contract is within the competence of the Director of the institute as defined in Article 51 of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Article 23 (2) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The relevant proposals are submitted to the Director of the institute by the Evaluations Committee, or by the Recruitment Committee if it concerns a newly recruited employee.
2. Before the Director decides to place the employee in the qualification grade 5, the proposal shall be submitted by the Director of the institute to the Coordination Committee for Ranking Employees into the Highest Qualification Grades (Article 22 (3) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences). An assessment by this Committee is not required if the grade 5 qualification has been recommended for the employee by the Coordination Committee in the past or if the employee possesses the DSc degree. The proposal to place an employee in qualification grade 5, which was not recommended by the Coordination Committee, may be submitted again after one year.
3. The inclusion of a newly recruited employee in the qualification grade and in the relevant salary grade shall remain valid until the Director of the institute issues a decision on the basis of the next following evaluation procedure which shall take place in the institute.
4. Directors of CAS institutes are classified to the qualification grade 5 for the entire duration of their term. Their salary is determined by the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences. After the end of their term they remain in the qualification grade 5 until the next evaluation, and the next Director shall determine their salaries according to the rules valid at the institute.
Article VII
Coordination Committee for Ranking Employees into the Highest Qualification Grades
1. The Coordination Committee for Ranking Employees into the Highest Qualification Grades (hereinafter the “Coordination Committee”) is established in line with Article 28 (1) (s) of the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, as a permanent subsidiary body of the Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
2. The chairman and members of the Coordination Committee are appointed and recalled (after discussions) by the Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Article 22 (3) of the Appendix to the Statutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Article 42 (1) b) of the CAS Statutes). The term of office of the chairman and members of the Coordination Committee is four years – a maximum of two consecutive terms. Further details regarding the composition and activities of the Coordination Committee are governed by the statute of the committee, which is approved by the Academy Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
3. The task of the Coordination Committee is to compare results achieved by the employees who are proposed to be placed in the qualification grade 5, so that a high professional level of this group is ensured across all institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The Coordination Committee also monitors the proportional representation of the qualification grade 5 at the CAS institutes.
4. On the basis of materials submitted by the Directors of the CAS institutes, the Coordination Committee discusses proposals for the placement of employees in the qualification grade 5. The Coordination Committee issues its opinions on the proposals.
5. The opinions of the Coordination Committee are forwarded to the Directors of the relevant institutes and are seen as recommendations. Should the Director of the relevant institute reject these recommendations, she/he shall inform the Coordination Committee in writing about this.
Article VIII
Closing Provisions
1. The existing Career Development Rules for CAS Employees with a University Degree at the Czech Academy of Sciences dated 18 December 2006 (Section 13/2006 of the Internal Standards) shall be terminated as of 31 December 2008.
2. These Career Development Rules shall become effective on 1 January 2009.
Prof. RNDr. Václav Pačes, DrSc.
President of the Czech Academy of Sciences