Human resources

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Key figures

Maintaining and strengthening the Institute’s scientific capacities

Research must be central to IRD’s activities. In this respect, the priority is for scientific jobs to maintain and strengthen the Institute’s scientific capacity in terms of employees devoted to research (researchers and scientific engineering and technicians).

In 2016, this policy resulting in the opening of 35 researcher positions (15 1st and 2nd class research associates and 20 2nd class research directors), favouring interdisciplinarity and intersectorality.

Securing research support functions

To maintain its specific know-how (especially in the fields of partnership and the management of expatriate or local staff abroad and in the French overseas territories), IRD has to secure and promote the research support functions. As such, a proactive policy on long-term stability for jobs held by staff on fixed-term contracts, via external selection, was established in 2016.

This approach is part of a wider plan to support contractual staff.

A new pro-active policy on forecasting for the South

The levers that contribute to research staff mobility outside France – expatriation and long-term assignments (2-10 months) – are pivotal to the completion of research and scientific cooperation assignments with communities in the Global South.

In 2016, the Institute had 696 agents posted outside France: 234 researchers, 170 engineers and technicians and 292 staff recruited locally, i.e. 34.5% of its workforce.

Supporting agents in their working environments

Collective support for change is a major issue. IRD is keen that every agent is able to grasp the sense of changes in the working environment and is able to be a part of the dynamic process.

Moreover, the Institute ensures support for individual careers via the human resources department.

Finally, a psychosocial risk prevention scheme has been developed to prevent risk situations through training and awareness-raising.

An ambitious devolvement process

2016 was also the year in which IRD rolled out an ambitious devolvement process, with the set-up of four regional delegations for IRD in mainland France. They serve the various units and are responsible for:

They provide a set of services, pooling resources to support research in the units and the structures within their scope.