It strikes us that it sounds like we are the only ones in the world who are applying for the HR Excellence in Research certification. That is certainly not the case. Almost 600 higher education institutions in Europe have already been granted the desirable logo and, here in Sweden, several have received the certification in recent years. And many others in Sweden are applying!
The work on applying to the EU is a complicated process. So far, we have not lost heart even once. But it has been close. And what do we do then? When we struggle to put together documentation in accordance with templates that are hard to understand? Quite simply, we use a lifeline to get a little help from our friends. We send emails to other higher education institutions that were in the same situation a few years ago. We talk with those who are at the same stage of the process that we are now. And we encourage those who are starting out, or perhaps have come to a standstill.
Thanks to our colleagues around the country and their honest and helpful communication, we have been able to avoid mistakes and gain inspiration to continue. Karlstad’s action plan template, comments from reviewers of the Karolinska Institute’s application, Örebro’s work on implementation, Jönköping’s tips on setting up a “proper” home page now (more on this in the next blog post), Uppsala’s way of linking together their research evaluation work with HRS4R … the list could be made even longer.
And now we are in contact with each other, those who are working on HRS4R at higher education institutions in Sweden. And we will continue to cooperate in some way, you can be sure of that. After all, it is the Swedish model.