At the final conference of the Cross-Cutting Activity (CCA) on supporting the career development of young researchers, held on 28–29 October 2026 in Brussels, COST brought together 70 researchers, research organisations, career development experts and European stakeholders to exchange insights and reflect on the achievements of this CCA network. How can Europe make research careers more attractive, sustainable and rewarding? And what needs to change to ensure that early-career researchers have the support and opportunities they need to thrive?
Over the past two years, the CCA has explored some of the key challenges shaping research careers across Europe. Bringing together more than 50 members from 21 countries, it mobilised a diverse network of young researchers and career development experts across four dedicated working groups to explore the barriers, identify shared priorities and shape the future of research careers in Europe. The network has produced an impressive set of deliverables, which are all available in the dedicated CCA community on Zenodo.

In her opening remarks, COST President Ase Gornitzka reflected that:

“Today marks the final conference of this CCA, but it should certainly not mark the end of the conversation.
Over the past two years, this initiative has brought together young researchers, career-development experts, research organisations and European stakeholders around a question that is fundamental to the future of European research: how can we create the conditions in which the next generation of researchers can truly thrive?
One of the great strengths of this CCA has been to bring young researchers into the conversation – not simply as beneficiaries of change, but as active participants in shaping it. It has created a space to share experiences, identify challenges, learn from different practices, and, importantly, develop solutions together.”

Cultivating Research Environments Where Careers Thrive

To kick off the conversation, Dr Kay Guccione, Head of Research Culture & Researcher Development and co-Director of the Lab for Academic Culture, University of Glasgow, raised an essential question about the role of culture in career success. The research culture in which researchers operate shapes their access to knowledge, learning and professional development opportunities, as well as their ability to benefit from research networks. These dimensions can be understood within the broader social context of learning ecology and the hidden curriculum in research education.

"The COST-CCA Final Conference on career development for young researchers provided an excellent opportunity to have deep and detailed discussions on critical topics in researcher development. Opening the event was an exciting chance to connect the CCA’s findings to date, which often spoke to unwritten rules and unclear pathways, with the concept of the hidden curriculum in research education, a topic that persists in underpinning my work at Glasgow, to support and develop researchers. I am glad to have taken part in such an energizing event,” says Dr Kay Guccione.

Building a clearer path for the next generation of researchers

Creating a more supportive and equitable environment for early-career researchers starts with understanding what is already available and identifying where further action is needed. This was the starting point for the first CCA working group, by mapping existing support structures, opportunities and resources within the COST community, including initiatives promoting equity and equality.
The exercise aimed at identifying tools and opportunities that empower early-career researchers, highlighting successful initiatives and sharing good practices, while assessing the instruments and platforms available to support their professional development. The outputs provide a solid foundation for developing recommendations and guidelines to help early-career researchers navigate the relevant EU career instruments, existing research networks such as the COST community and make the most of the opportunities available to them.

“Europe has invested significantly in tools, resources, and initiatives to support early-career researchers, but these efforts only make a difference if they reach the people they are designed for. Many researchers remain unaware of the opportunities available to them or are unsure where to find the information and support they need. We need to help researchers discover these resources, explore their strengths and interests, and build confidence in their professional identity. At the same time, institutions can learn from successful practices developed across Europe, while supervisors should be recognized and encouraged for providing high-quality mentorship. By supporting both researchers and the environments in which they work, we can help the next generation take ownership of their careers and thrive in a research culture that values diverse talents, ambitions, and contributions, in and outside academia.” Patricia Clement, Ghent University and Working group Co-Chair on the perspective of Early Career Researchers

“Young researchers aren’t just doing outstanding science, they also publish, teach, mentor, manage admin, communicate to the public, and build industry links, just to name a few things.
They are amazing, and we should be exposing them to different skills and careers to open their horizons and ensure access to opportunities. But we must be careful not to turn versatility into an impossible standard. We need to help these researchers feel that they are part of a collective effort that values different strengths, perspectives and contributions, and we need to support them in finding their own place within it.” Annelies Van de Ven - Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission, (MSCA)

Building Effective Career Development Ecosystems

Career support matters, but too often, it remains fragmented, leaving young researchers without the guidance they need and often feel isolated.
Career development is a collective responsibility. Building on the findings of their survey, members of the CCA’s second working group have put forward recommendations to strengthen collaboration and create a more connected and effective career development ecosystem. To name a few: Recognise career development as a core pillar of research excellence and sustainability; Embed it in institutional strategies and culture through an integrated ecosystem approach; Improve communication and access, enabling all researchers to easily identify and navigate available support, regardless of discipline, career stage or employment status; Empower researchers to take ownership of their career development.
The message is clear: stronger collaboration, better-connected support and shared responsibility are essential to sustainable research careers.

"In public research, if we talk about 'attractive careers', 'talent retention', & 'competitiveness', we must also talk about career development support.
Career development is a core element of research quality & impact, and this COST Cross-Cutting Action is timely in shining a light on an important element of our research cultures and systems. The recommendations made by the COST Action are fully in line with Science Europe's own positions and activities on the topic, and there is now clear momentum to further embed, value, and harmonise career development support as a central element of excellence in research." James Morris - Senior Policy Officer at Science Europe

Simon Marti - Head of the European Universities Association Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE), stresses the need to bring all actors together for a balanced approach.

The Recommendations for Strengthening Researcher Career Development Support offer crucial insights. The proposed ecosystem approach would provide early-career researchers with more meaningful guidance. To put this into practice, alignment of actors and policies as suggested in the document is key. More work needs to be done to support career trajectories in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Although most doctoral candidates will pursue careers outside academia, these pathways are often not receiving the same esteem as careers in academia (cf. 2025 EUA-CDE survey). The CCA reports will provide universities with valuable resources for their efforts to support doctoral candidates’ career development. Simon Marti

How can institutions strike the right balance between supporting researchers’ academic ambitions and helping them navigate career opportunities beyond academia? What role should supervisors play in supporting early-career researchers as they navigate the challenges they face, including job insecurity, precarious working conditions, and discrimination?

“We need career development offers that aren’t box-ticking, are easily findable, and are a shared responsibility. To be fit for purposes, they should be suited to the individual motivations and circumstances of a diverse population of researchers, and the changing labour market. It can work via co-creation: by involving partners from other sectors, leadership, and by addressing early career researchers as the capable experts and change makers for improving academia they are. On a policy level, we need to be working towards ending systemic injustices that lead to a loss of talent, and to severe harm among people who embarked on a research career but hit structural barriers.” Johanna Stadlbauer - Head of Research Careers Campus, University of Graz

85% of Young Researchers Recommend COST as a Career Booster

Young researchers are calling for greater visibility, recognition and leadership opportunities within COST Actions. The working group on ‘Building a Young Researchers’ Community in COST’, exploring young researchers’ needs and expectations found that 85% of survey participants would recommend COST to other early-career researchers, citing networking, access to knowledge, interdisciplinary collaboration and leadership opportunities as key career benefits.
To build on these strengths and address existing barriers, the group proposed practical measures to strengthen young researchers’ engagement, including structured networks within COST Actions, greater recognition of their contributions, cross-Action collaboration and more equitable access to funding and participation.
The group also developed a ready-to-use toolkit and guidelines to help COST Actions establish young researcher networks and create more opportunities for early-career researchers to connect, collaborate and grow.

“Building a strong community of young researchers means giving them not only opportunities to connect, but also the confidence and responsibility to lead. Through WG3, we developed a practical toolkit to establish Young Researchers’ Networks within COST Actions, fostering leadership, mentoring and collaboration. Our ambition goes further: connecting these networks across Europe and sustaining their impact beyond individual COST Actions. The discussions at the final conference reinforced a key message: young researchers should not simply benefit from research networks; they should actively shape their future. This is how COST can contribute to a stronger, more inclusive European research community.” Dr Ahmed Rassili, Centre De Recherches Metallurgiques and WG co-Chair

Gender Equity and Fostering Inclusiveness
This working group aimed to translate evidence and experience into policy, recognising that research careers remain unequally accessible across gender, equity, diversity and inclusion dimensions.

Gender equality means equal rights and opportunities; gender equity recognises that different groups face different barriers and may need tailored support to achieve fair outcomes. Progress in gender equality from quotas and mentoring to policy reform, offers valuable lessons for advancing equity, diversity and inclusion more broadly.
The shift from gender equality to equity, diversity and inclusion provides a broader framework for addressing barriers in research careers.

What sets institutions that embed career support into their culture apart from those that simply offer support services? Mobility can open doors but also create barriers, especially for those researchers with (parental) care responsibilities. Have European research systems become too reliant on mobility as a measure of excellence, and what alternatives could ensure more inclusive research careers? These are some of the questions raised openly to highlight the challenges that still lie ahead for young researchers.

“Pursuing a research career, as rewarding as it may be, can also be tough. Career progression remains more challenging for women and researchers from underrepresented and underprivileged groups. In an intersectional approach, different aspects of researchers’ identities and circumstances are recognised to shape lived experiences and influence career progression. Because different inequalities interact in different ways, an intersectional approach to EDI is useful. Universities can act on this knowledge by integrating more dimensions of diversity, beyond gender, into their institutional plans and actions, whilst at the EU level LERU advocates the strengthening of the GEP criterion in the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme.” Dr Katrien Maes Engagement ambassador / EDI and sustainability specialist at LERU


“I know from my own experiences how important and catalytic COST Actions are for early career researchers. That is why I was delighted to participate in the COST Final Conference of the CCA on Career Development for Young Researchers. Sharing our recent work in Trinity College Dublin and the Coimbra Group Equality & Diversity Working Group as a panellist at the Conference and listening and learning from the speakers and participants was so insightful. I look forward to disseminating the excellent and informative CCA deliverables, especially from WG 4 on Gender Equity and Fostering Diversity in Research, with my colleagues and networks.” Dr Siobán O’Brien Green Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, and Chair of the Equality & Diversity Working Group at Coimbra Group of universities

Opening the programme on the second day of the conference, Professor Ann van Soom (Ghent University) shared her personal career journey, highlighting how unexpected opportunities, connections and collaborations through COST networks can shape researchers’ professional paths. Complementing this perspective, Chiara Biglia (Politecnico di Torino) offered an institutional perspective on research career development, highlighting how universities and research institutions can create the right conditions to effectively support researchers throughout their careers. Together, the two presentations underlined the importance of both research networks and institutional support in fostering successful and sustainable research careers.

Looking ahead
Supporting Research Careers in Europe: From Policy to Better Careers for Stronger Innovation is now available and ready to be shared with the community.
The CCA has put forward recommendations to strengthen support for early-career researchers, both within and beyond academia. Drawing on their specific challenges, it provides guidance, practical tools and good practice. Its central message: career development requires a connected support system and equitable access to opportunities.

“The CCA was a fantastic melting pot of people, ideas, expertise, and perspectives, that showed a collective effort to improve career development for researchers. One important message emerges above all others: the time for diagnosis is over, and this is the time for action. We need coordinated, coherent, and collective action across the European research landscape.” Nicola Dengo CCA co-Chair​, Junior Assistant Professor at the University of Padova and Board member of the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers.

“It has been inspiring to see researchers, career development professionals and policymakers bring their different perspectives to our shared ambition: better careers for early-career researchers. Together, we have developed recommendations, examples of good practice and practical tools that others can build on. The final conference brought this collective effort to life through thoughtful discussions about how to turn our work into lasting change and make career support and opportunities more accessible and inclusive.” Joanna Rutkowska, CCA co-Chair, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Zurich and affiliated to the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (eurodoc)

Additional information

All CCA deliverables can be accessed through the CCA community on Zenodo
Coimbra Group shares recent work on strengthening gender equity and diversity in research | Coimbra
COST Cross-Cutting Activity (CCA)