Elevating skills into recognised credentials

SMART Researchers is a 36-month initiative funded under Horizon Europe that couples Career Support Centers with a ResearchComp-based micro-credentialing system, enabling ESRs to develop, evidence, and transport skills across academia, industry, and the public sector—supporting Europe’s green and digital transitions.

Our role: Certification Backbone and Compliance Anchor

• Framework lead (Task 3.2, M10–M12): Design the micro-credentialing and certification framework mapped to 38 ResearchComp sub-competencies, aligned with EQF, EQAVET, and ISO 17024.
• Quality assurance at scale: Ensure adherence to European standards so credentials are portable, trusted, and durable within Career Support Centers.
• Pilot validation co-lead (Task 3.4): Co-run the initial pilot with 100 ESRs, gathering evidence for improvement and preparing the model for scale-up.
• End-to-end certification infrastructure: Online registration and payments, live monitoring, auto-scoring, and instant digital certification provide consistent, high-integrity assessment across countries.

Kick-off takeaways

• From plan to playbook: Partners aligned on roles, governance, and the first six-month milestones, with deep dives into WP2 (career support systems) and WP6 (dissemination, communication, exploitation).
• Stakeholder journey mapping: Clear pathways defined for ESRs, institutions, mentors, and employers to interact with pilots and credential routes.
• Delivery discipline: Agreement on management, monitoring, eligibility rules, documentation, and budget controls to keep execution predictable.

Next Steps

1. Finalize the credential framework (M10–M12), including assessment blueprints and credential metadata.
2. Ready the pilot: examiner onboarding, item calibration, security protocols, and platform tests.
3. Launch and learn: run the ESR pilot, analyze performance data, and refine for wider deployment.