EuroScientist has picked up the following curated news from the wire:

For the first time, active science researchers to have a unified voice representing them on an EU and international level. Indeed, the two major umbrella researcher representative associations in Europe–namely ICoRSA and Eurodoc–have just signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in that sense, announced on 19^th June 2014. It enables both organisations to act together to represent the interests of researchers at European level. Previously, independent efforts of the two associations to represent the interest of researchers were limited and lacked coordination in defending the interests of the entire research community.

The advantage of such an alliance is that the two associations working together now span the full spectrum of researchers: from PhD candidate to senior research fellow—which correspond to a ranking level from R1 to R4 according to the European framework of research careers. Specifically, this joint initiative associates the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICoRSA) with the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc). The former represents researcher from the junior postdoctoral student to senior researchers in 11 national research staff associations (RSA) from Europe, North America and Africa, and two industry researchers’ associations. The latter is an international federation of 35 European national organisations of doctoral candidates and other researchers who are not yet fully independent.

From now on, Eurodoc and ICoRSA will jointly represent the voice of researchers in European Council meetings as a means to influence research policy. This will allow them to make representations on researcher issues, such as the lack of career structure and sustainable careers for researchers in Europe. Other aspects covered will include the quest for further recognition of the status of researchers, the need to support mobility regionally and inter-sectorially, gender issues and the work of researchers which have implications for the broader society.

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