Dedicated funding streams to support young researchers should be established by the European Union and its member states, according to a declaration by early career scientists.

Under proposals to encourage free thinking and fresh ideas, young researchers, regardless of their qualifications, should be able to access so-called junior research grants ¨C with undergraduates and PhD students among those able to tap into the system.

The idea is part of the new , which was presented to EU ministers at a meeting in the Slovak capital on 19 July and commissioned ahead of the country¡¯s year-long presidency of the union.

Drawn up by researchers from different countries, fields and career stages, the Bratislava Declaration calls on funding bodies to ¡°radically reorganise funding streams to trust and empower young researchers¡±.

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It argues that the current ¡°economically oriented, impact-focused, bureaucratic, system is not compatible with fresh ideas and fresh thinking that young people have¡± and asks ¡°would any of our current systems have funded a young Einstein or a Marie Sk?´Ç»å´Ç·É²õ°ì²¹-°ä³Ü°ù¾±±ð?¡±.

The declaration calls on the European Commission and the EU¡¯s 28 member states to ¡°create sustainable and effective funding schemes¡­for young researchers¡­to autonomously pursue their research ideas, [their] societal impact¡­to help them become independent in their careers as early as possible¡±.

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One of the declaration¡¯s authors, Miguel Jorge, a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde¡¯s department of chemical and process engineering, said that his group had agreed that a rethink of funding was urgently needed.

¡°Funding is increasingly going into large-scale projects, both at EU and national level, which is really the wrong direction of travel,¡± Dr Jorge told Times Higher Education.

¡°You need to have a system that allows researchers, even those at PhD level, to obtain their own funding,¡± he added.

As it stands, gaining research funding separate from a senior scientist or research leader was now a ¡°really big hurdle¡± that was deterring many from pursuing a research career, said Dr Jorge, one of the directors of the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations.

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¡°The whole drive to predict impact is also creating a very bureaucratic environment that is killing creativity,¡± added Dr Jorge, who argued that funding should be focused ?¡°almost exclusively¡± on basic or fundamental research.

The Bratislava Declaration also calls for the creation of ¡°mechanisms for better mobility between the public and private sectors¡±, as well as movement between disciplines, saying that the ¡°current system only values geographical mobility¡±.

It also advocates more research skills training in schools, ¡°employment-stability, and explicit criteria for career progression¡± for researchers, as well as initiatives to improve work-life balance for researchers, such as ¡°better childcare provisions, parental care, flexible working practices and...dual-career opportunities¡±. EU states should also seek to create a workplace equality scheme similar to the Athena SWAN initiative run by the UK¡¯s Equality Challenge Unit, the declaration says.

Dr Jorge argued that the recent Brexit vote should not stop the UK from reflecting upon the EU declaration, stating that ¡°most of these principles are applicable worldwide¡±.

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jack.grove@tesglobal.com