(Finance) – “The placement of researchers at the time of the PNRR”, is the theme of the event organized by the Emblema Foundation in collaboration with the Vitality Foundation, the Ecosystem for Innovation of Central Italy which took place at Centro Luigi Zordan Congresses in L’Aquila.
At the proceedings, introduced by Fabio Graziosi (president of the Vitality Foundation), speakers were Tommaso Aiello (president of the Emblema Foundation), Maria Candida Cesta (Scientific Collaborations & Funding Director of Dompé), Enrico Di Piazza (Human Capital IIT) and Marta Rapallini (Program Manager of the FAIR Foundation ).
Particular attention was paid to the presentation of the Placement Programthe professional orientation model developed by the Emblema Foundation for researchers working in entities funded by the PNRR. The objective of the program is to accompany research doctors in their professional career, helping them to enter the world of work once the funding provided for by the plan has been completed.
The Placement Program offers an important orientation action, allowing researchers to come into contact with companies that are interested in including highly specialized profiles in their workforce.
During the eventTommaso Aiello also presented the results of a survey carried out by the Emblema Foundation, which involved a sample of over 300 Italian companies (of which 77% have internal research doctors) operating in the research and development (R&D) sector. The objective of the survey was to explore the perception of companies towards research doctors and understand how the PNRR can influence or modify the entry of these profiles into the world of work.
Before the start of the PNRRthe annual doctoral scholarships were approximately 15,000. With the increase due to the PNRR (2023-24), the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) alone has financed 18,700 doctorates, in addition to another 9,000 places between doctorates and researchers engaged in projects linked to the plan.
Regarding employmentthe data from AlmaLaurea offer an interesting starting point. One year after graduation, the average employment rate for graduates is 91%, with a slight difference between disciplines: 87% for humanists and 94% for engineers. This represents a 15% increase compared to graduates overall, with an unemployment rate of 4.3%. It is therefore not a question of unemployment, but of greater difficulty in achieving professional stability.
Another relevant fact concerns the type of contracts. Less than 30% of research doctors have a permanent contract, while more than double continue to work with forms of precarious employment (research grants, grants, fixed-term contracts). Although they work, many researchers do not enjoy the security of stable employment.
In the endapproximately 29.6% of PhDs work in the private sectorwhere almost all permanent contracts are concentrated. Despite the difficulties, the doctoral experience is generally considered worthwhile: only 7.7% of respondents say they would not re-enroll in a doctoral program. The main problem seems to lie in the lack of “connection” with the world of work, an aspect on which the Emblema Foundation intends to intervene through the Placement Program, to fill this gap and encourage the stable entry of research doctors into the working landscape.
The Focus of the Placement Exchange is an annual event that the Emblema Foundation has been promoting since 2018 within forDoc, a job-oriented directory for highly specialized professionals. The event has now become an important moment of discussion between companies, universities, doctoral students and researchers, with the participation, from 2023, also of the bodies involved in the PNRR.