Summary of Conditions of Employment and Benefits for Research Fellows & Academic Assistants

Working conditions and flexitime

• The number of working hours is 40 hours per week.

• Overtime: You should not be requested to work overtime unless in cases of urgency or exceptional pressure of work. Only in justified cases and subject to prior authorisation by the Head of Department/Centre/Programme, research fellows or academic assistants may exceptionally be requested to work during the weekend or on public holiday. In such cases they will be entitled to compensatory leave (not to remuneration).

• Telework: The standard teleworking time per working week is up to 2 full days, amounting to 16 hours of the 40-hour working week, or on a pro-rata basis if you work part-time. You may telework from locations other than your place of employment for up to 10 working days per year, with approval from your project director, in addition to any telework authorised by the Appointing Authority, such as before the winter and summer closures.

• Annual leave entitlement: 2 days/month for full-time contracts (proportionally reduced for part-time contracts), to be taken in agreement with the supervisor and an average of 17 days of EUI holidays per year.

• The cumulative duration of an academic assistant/research fellow’s service shall not exceed five years.

Allowances

All allowances are subject to verification on the basis of the Conditions of Employment of the Teaching Staff and upon presentation of relevant supporting documents:

• Travel expenses on entry/termination of service (if place of recruitment different from Florence)

• Installation allowance (if the place of recruitment is distant more than 70 km from Florence)

• Expatriation or foreign residence allowance of 16% or 4%, depending on circumstances

• Household allowance

• Dependent child allowance

• Pre-school allowance (for children under 6 not yet frequenting primary school)

• Education allowance (for children under 26 in paying primary or secondary schools or frequenting full-time an establishment of higher education)

• Termination of service allowance from the beginning of the contract and paid upon leaving the service

• Resettlement allowance (upon specific conditions)

Sickness and accident insurance

Academic assistant and research fellows are covered by:

• the EU Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) for them and their dependent family members

• the accident and occupational disease insurance coverage (contract holder only)

Upon termination of service:

If a research fellow or academic assistant provides evidence that they cannot be covered by any other public scheme of sickness insurance, they can request to be insured against sickness for a maximum of two months after the expiry of their contract or for the period during which they are suffering from a serious or protracted illness which they contracted before the expiry of the contract. The contribution will be calculated by reference to their last basic salary received and half of the contribution will be borne by them.

Probationary period

Research fellows or academic assistants whose contract is concluded for duration of at least a year will serve a nine-month probationary period. Its purpose is to evaluate their ability to perform successfully their job (efficiency, competencies and conduct). 

The initial length of the probationary period cannot be extended unless the research fellow or academic assistant is prevented from working during a continuous period of at least one month due to illness, maternity leave or an accident. The extension cannot exceed 15 months.

For more information see Article 84 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.

• Probation guidance (pdf)

Working hours/week

Collaborative research agreement and mediation service

Principal Investigators (PIs)/ Project Directors and academic assistants/ research fellows who are actively engaged in research and publication activities, with research as a core contractual component, should formalise a written agreement outlining their shared expectations regarding the research elements of their collaboration.

This collaborative research agreement is then submitted to the HR service no later than two months after the start of the contract.

A neutral and confidential mediation service, provided by the Chair of the Ethics Committee and the Director of the Academic Service, is available to both parties for addressing concerns about the agreement.

Contact: EUI Ethics Committee, ethics@eui.eu

For any other matters, the mediation service is provided by the Provost for Research and External Relations

• EUI Collaborative Research Agreement (editable pdf)
• EUI Collaborative Research Agreement (.docx)
• Guidelines for research contractual collaborations within the EUI Academic Community (pdf)
• Code of Ethics in Academic Conduct and Research (pdf)