USC adhered to the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers in July 2016. The process of implementing the Human Resources Strategy for Research Professionals (HRS4R) began immediately and is summarised in the table below.
After conducting a Gap Analysis and developing an Action Plan to address this, in February 2017, USC was awarded the HR Excellence in Research Award, which recognises that the university's human resources policies and processes provide an excellent working environment for the career development of its research staff, in line with the highest European standards.
USC has promoted a participatory process, both to prepare the first HRS4R Action Plan and to update it in the review process scheduled for 2022, with surveys of its research teams conducted in 2016 and 2022.