First publication: Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 12-354/2005 published: 10 February 2005, in force since: 11 February 2005

Changes included in the consolidated version: Rules amending the Rules on the Training and Financing of Young Researchers in Research Organisations (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 49-1978/2005), published 18 May 2005, in force since: 19 May 2005

CONSOLIDATED VERSION:

Rules on the Training and Financing of Young Researchers in Research Organisations

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

These Rules define the form of research and development training and type of postgraduate study and the method of placing young researchers with legal persons that are entered in the RO databases at the Slovenian Research Agency and have institutional status (hereinafter: Research Organisation), conditions for placement on training, the procedure for the selection of mentors, financing and the method of monitoring training (hereinafter: training).

The terms used in the masculine form in the Slovenian original of these Rules shall refer neutrally to both men and women.

Article 2

The Slovenian Research Agency (hereinafter: the Agency) shall finance the training of young researchers in research organisations with the purpose of:

• providing new research and research-teaching staff in research organisations;
• increasing the research capacity of groups carried out programmes, basic, applied and research development projects; -
• increasing the human potential for other users from the public and private sector.

Article 3

The Agency shall provide financing for the training of young researchers.

Article 4

The Director of the Agency (hereinafter: the Director) shall approve instructions for the selection of mentors for young researchers on the basis of the National Research and Development Programme, budget funds, and the annual policy of the ministry responsible for science determining the number of young researchers by fields of science.

II. INVITATION

Article 5

On the basis of the instructions from the preceding paragraph, the Agency shall publicly invite Research Organisations to propose mentors who shall train young researchers in selected fields, within a set time limit.

Responses to the public invitation for mentors may also be submitted by people, who hold a position in a research organisation, acting as individuals.

Article 6

The Director shall charge an official of the Agency responsible for young researchers (hereinafter: Agency Official) with the task of preparing documentation on all potential mentors proposed by research organisations.

III. CONDITIONS, CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR THE SELECTION OF MENTORS

Article 7

A mentor must meet the following conditions:

• work for a research organisation;
• meet the conditions for a basic research project head;
• cooperate in a research programme or at least on research and development project co-financed by the Agency.

Article 8

A mentor shall not be permitted to train more than three young researchers at any one time, including young researchers whose status is temporarily on hold, or those whose young researcher financing and training contract has expired without them successfully completing the programme - these shall be taken into account for two years following the contractually required end of the programme.

Article 9

Criteria for evaluating mentors:

• assessed number of scientific articles published in the last five years;
• scientific impact of published works (citations);
• linking research work with users;
• approved international projects;
• approved number of young researchers mentored over the last ten years;
• number of mentored young researchers that have successfully concluded training (for master's or doctoral degrees) over the last ten years;
• number of mentored young researchers being financed.

The quantitative criteria for assessing the individual indicators shall be defined by the Agency and shall be a constituent part of the evaluation document. The evaluation document shall be published on the Agency's website before the invitation from Article 5 of these Rules.

IV. SELECTION OF MENTORS

Article 10

The Agency Official shall send the full documentation for an individual mentor to the National Coordinator for the appropriate research field. The Agency Official shall include the evaluation document and its constituent parts (mentor’s references, report on performance in training young researchers, number of active young researchers).

The National Coordinator shall complete the evaluation document for the individual mentor and draft a priority list for all evaluated mentors.

The development opportunities of the specific research field shall also be taken into account in creating the draft priority list of mentors.

Article 11

The Agency Official shall collect the material prepared by the National Coordinator and prepare a summary list for deliberation by scientific and research councils.

The scientific and research councils shall review the evaluation documents and priority lists and coordinate them among the relevant sub-fields.

The Agency's Scientific Council shall deliberate on the coordinated proposals from the scientific and research councils and prepare a draft list of mentors, with at least 25 per cent of the mentors being younger than 45 years of age. The Agency’s Scientific Council shall prepare a draft list of mentors comprising two sections: the priority list of mentors it is proposing for acceptance and a reserve list.

V. DECISION MAKING

Article 12

The Director shall submit the list of mentors to the Management Board of the Agency for approval. The Management Board must provide grounds for its decision.

The Agency shall inform the Research Organisations where the mentors work, and mentor candidates that applied as individuals of the selection in writing.

Research Organisations, and mentors applying as individuals have the right to appeal against the decision within eight days of receipt of the written notification of the results. The appeal must give a detailed definition of the reasons for the appeal. The conditions and criteria for selecting mentors cannot be the subject of appeal.

The Director shall appoint a commission to prepare a draft decision on the appeal.

The Director shall submit the draft decision to the Management Board.

The Management Board shall issue a decision on the appeal within 15 days of receiving the draft decision from the preceding paragraph. Its decision shall be final.

The Agency shall publish the list of mentors on its website.

Article 13

Research organisations shall issue public calls for candidates for young researchers to work with the selected mentors, by fields of science and research in the daily press and/or the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia.

Article 14

Research Organisations must conclude the selection of the young researcher candidates by the end of May of the year in question and inform the Agency of the selected candidates by 1 June. They shall send the Agency a statement confirming that candidates have been selected by public call, and provide proof that individual young researchers meet the call criteria.

Article 15

If a Research Organisation fails to submit the list of young researcher candidates to the Agency by 1 June, it shall no longer be eligible to receive financing for the training of young researchers during that year.

Article 16

If the situation described in the preceding article of these Rules occurs, the commission that prepares the draft decision on appeals shall draw up an additional list of mentors from the reserve list. The Director shall submit an additional list of mentors to the Management Board for approval. The Management Board must provide grounds for its decision. The list it produces shall be final.

Article 17

The Agency shall publish the additional list of mentors on its website and inform the research organisation where the mentors work of the selection in writing.

VI. YOUNG RESEARCHERS – CONDITIONS AND CRITERIA

Article 18

Young researchers must:

• be either a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia, or
• a foreign citizen with the right to education under the same conditions as a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia;
• have at least a university level education;
• have an average grade for all examinations and coursework (excluding the degree examination) of at least 8.00; if a young researcher is already registered for postgraduate study or has completed a master's degree, the average grade for the first degree work shall not be relevant;
• be aged up to 28 years inclusive (with respect to the year of birth); if a young researcher has already completed a study programme to acquire a master’s degree without financial support from the agency or ministry responsible for science, the age of the candidates may be up to 30 years.

If a young researcher takes maternity or parental leave - of one year for each child - the age limit shall be increased beyond 28 years by the amount of leave taken. The same shall apply in the case of extended (documented) sick leave.

Young researchers who have already been financed by a young researcher programme but who withdrew from the contract before its expiry or who failed to complete the training programme within the contracted time limit, cannot apply for the call.

Article 19

The following are the criteria for evaluating candidates:

• the average grade for all examinations and coursework at undergraduate level (excluding the degree examination) must be at least 80% of the average for examinations and coursework at that level;
• a completed master’s degree;
• enrolment in a postgraduate study programme;
• an award or prize;
• published articles;
• collaboration in research work.

The Research Organisation shall define the evaluation of criteria.

Article 20

The selection of candidates applying to a Research Organisation for public calls shall be carried out by the Research Organisation in agreement with the selected mentors. The mentors shall check that candidates meet the conditions and shall evaluate them in writing based on the criteria from the preceding article.

VII. IMPLEMENTING FINANCING

Article 21

The Agency shall finance the training of young researchers until they acquire a doctorate, for a maximum period of four and a half years.

A young researcher undergoing training to acquire a doctorate may conclude the training on acquisition of a master’s degree. The Agency shall in that case finance the training for no more than two and a half years, after which the young researcher shall not have the right to further financing.

The Agency may extended the time for research training for young researchers in the medical field that are in preparatory training, working as hospital young doctors or taking their specialisation alongside the doctoral training, so that their programme including the final defence of the doctoral thesis is concluded within nine years of commencing the young researcher programme. In such cases the Agency shall provide full financing for the young researcher training programme for no more than four and a half years which the financing organised in coordination with the implementation of the programme and the public finances already allocated for preparatory training, working as a hospital young doctor or taking a specialisation.

The Agency shall reduce the financing period defined in the first paragraph of this Article by a year if the young researcher is already in the second year of studies on signing the contract, or by two years if the young researcher is already in the third year of studies or has completed a master’s degree. Young researchers who have already been financed by a young researcher programme, but who withdrew from the contract before its expiry or who failed to complete the training programme within the contracted time limit, cannot participate in the programme.

Article 22

The Research Organisation in question (hereinafter; Implementing Organisation) must submit the following documentation to the Agency before signing the contract on financing and training a young researcher (hereinafter: the Contract) and before 20 September at the latest:

• outline of the research training programme;
• a list of research projects or programmes financed or co-financed by the Agency in which the mentor is participating and in which the young researcher will be included;
• proof of citizenship;
• a degree certificate with supplement or master's degree certificate.

Article 23

The research training programme outline for the young researcher candidate shall comprise a research and study programme.

The research programme shall include:

• guidelines for the young researcher’s tasks and inclusion in the research group project or programme;
• working hypothesis and work methods;
• research objectives and anticipated results with an emphasis on original scientific contributions.

There must be a time schedule for the study programme.

The framework training programme in the research group shall be compiled by: the research mentor, the head of the research group, the Implementing Organisation’s management body and the young researcher candidate.

Article 24

The Agency shall conclude a contract with the Implementing Organisation defining the reciprocal rights and obligations of the Contracting Parties. The Contract may state that the Implementing Organisation shall cover specific costs from training young researchers. The Implementing Organisation must return the signed contract within 15 days of receipt thereof.

The Implementing Organisation must submit the young researcher's employment contract and postgraduate enrolment certificate with the Contract. This does not apply to young researchers that have already completed a master's degree.

Article 25

If the Agency Official finds that the contractual documentation must be supplemented, the official shall inform the Implementing Organisation thereof and request the additional information be provided.

If the Implementing Organisation does not provide the additionally requested contractual documentation within 15 days of that notification, the Agency shall withdraw from the contract and inform the Implementing Organisation thereof within 8 days.

VII. SHORTER FORMS OF YOUNG RESEARCHER TRAINING ABROAD

Article 26

Young researchers whose training is already being financed by the Agency may participate in short training programmes abroad for a maximum of one and a half years in the form of study projects at foreign universities or foreign research institutes or for the experimental part of doctorate in order to ensure higher quality training and postgraduate study at home.

During a short young researcher training period abroad, the Implementing Organisation shall be entitled to full payment of the funds allocated by the Agency for young researcher training, even if the young researcher has been awarded a foreign grant for the period abroad.

The Implementing Organisation shall include a description of any young researcher training that takes place abroad in its annual report.

The contractual period for programme implementation shall not be extended due to a short period of training abroad and the defence of the doctoral thesis must be made in the Republic of Slovenia.

IX. MONITORING YOUNG RESEARCHER TRAINING

Article 27

The Implementing Organisation must report on the young researcher training within the time limit set in the Contract by sending an annual or final report in accordance with the instructions for preparing annual and final reports on young researcher training published by the Agency on its website. The Implementing Organisation must publish the young researcher’s doctoral thesis in electronic form in the Slovenian Current Research Information System (SICRIS).

The final financial report at the end of the training must be sent to the Agency within one month of the final instalment being paid.

If the report and final financial report are not submitted within the time limit set in the Contract, the Agency may withhold payment of contractual funds for the duration of the delay.

Young researchers must take employment in a position relevant to the acquired education in the Republic of Slovenia for as long as the training period lasted. Any young researcher failing to do so must return five per cent of the funds paid. If immediately after the defence of their doctoral thesis, a young researcher is accepted on a postdoctoral project abroad, the obligation from the first sentence of this paragraph shall be postponed for the duration of that postdoctoral project.

The obligation on the young researcher from the preceding paragraph shall be defined in more detail in the Contract referred to in Article 24 of these Rules.

Article 28

The Implementing Organisation shall be obliged to inform the Agency by the tenth of the following month of any changes during a young researcher's training that relate to a change or termination of employment, or a justified absence of over 30 days such as maternity leave or extended sick leave for which the Implementing Organisation receives public financing.

In the case of the termination or change in employment, the payment of funds shall be cancelled. For the duration of a justified absence the Agency shall temporarily suspend financing and extend the training programme by the time for which the contractual obligations are suspended.

Article 29

The Implementing Organisation may only propose a change of mentor if the mentor's employment situation changes, the mentor retires or the mentor dies.

The new mentor must meet the conditions set out in Article 7 of these Rules.

Article 30

Agency funds may only be used for the purposes and in the situations set out in these Rules, and in the Contract and instructions on the use of funds for young researcher training.

The Implementing Organisation must permit the Agency to review the use of funds it receives on the basis of the Contract.

The Contract shall state the name of the person responsible for the fulfilment of contractual provisions.

Article 31

If the contractual obligations are not fulfilled the Implementing Organisation must inform the Agency thereof immediately. The Agency may suspend or cancel the financing and withdraw from the Contract.

The cancellation of the training at the request of the Implementing Organisation or the young researcher during the first six months of financing shall not have financial consequences for the signatory of the Contract, unless the Agency discover that the funds have not been used for the purpose for which they were intended.

The Implementing Organisation's responsibility if the training is cancelled after the first six months shall be defined in the Contract.

If the Agency withdraws from the Contract due to the misuse of funds, the Implementing Organisation shall be obliged to return all paid funds in their real value within a time limit set by the Agency.

If the purpose and objective of the training programme (defence of the doctoral thesis) are not achieved within the contractual time limit, or within an extended time limit of six months without Agency financing, the Implementing Organisation and the young researcher shall both be required to return five per cent of the funds paid.

Article 32

Young researchers who successfully conclude the training (with the defence of the doctoral thesis) before the end of the contractual time limit, shall be eligible for a bonus payment of 30 per cent of the funds the Agency had allocated for the young researcher's gross salary (excluding social security and other contributions), for each month remaining before the end of the contractual time limit up to a maximum of twelve months.

X. TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 33

Financing for young researchers accepted into training programmes before these Rules enter into force shall be financed in accordance with the regulations in force at the time the contract was signed, but the provisions of Article 26, the second and third sentence of the fourth paragraph of Article 27, Article 28 Article 29 and the fourth and fifth paragraph of Article 31 of these Rules shall nevertheless apply.

Young researchers who complete a master's degree training programme including the defence of a master's thesis within the contractual time limit (two years and six months), shall be entitled to immediate consideration should they apply for continued training to the doctorate level. However, the continued training to the doctorate level shall only be financed for two years.

If young researchers on an approved master's degree training programme obtain a senate decision for direct transfer to doctoral studies before the end of the contractual period, the total duration of financing for their training shall be a maximum of four and a half years.

Article 33a

The deadline for notifying the Agency of the list of young researcher candidates from Article 14 and 15 of these Rules for 2005 shall be determined by the Agency, which shall inform research organisations thereof, and publish the deadline on its website.

If a research organisation does not submit the list of young researcher candidates to the Agency by the set deadline, it shall no longer be eligible to receive financing for the training of young researchers during that year.

Article 34

The Rules on the Training and Inclusion of Young Researchers in Research, University and Other Organisations (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, 48/02 and 36/04) shall cease to have effect on the day these Rules enter into force.

Article 35

These Rules shall enter into force the day after their publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia.