Photo Credits: Marmion/Bigstock 

As competition for research talent intensifies globally, Europe needs to offer attractive conditions for researchers. China has rapidly strengthened its position in research, while the US remains highly competitive on salaries. 

For researchers, this global competition is reflected in increasingly international careers, as they move between countries and institutions in search of opportunities, funding and the right conditions to develop their work. As well as attracting researchers from around the world, Europe needs to make mobility within the EU easier.

That mobility, however, can come with practical obstacles. Pension systems vary across countries, making it harder for researchers to keep track of their pension savings.  “Mobility is good for science and for researchers' careers. But pension systems were not always designed with highly mobile international careers in mind,” explains European Commission spokesperson Maciej Berestecki. 

According to Berestecki, two problems stand out. The first is vesting periods. Many schemes require a minimum period of service, up to three years under EU rules, before employer contributions are secured. Researchers often work on contracts of two years or less, so they can lose those contributions when they move on. The second is tracing. “Imagine reaching retirement and having to track down a pension from an employer you worked for 25 or 30 years ago, in another country, language and system,” Berestecki adds. This can be even more difficult when the former employer no longer exists.

The pan-European pension plan RESAVER, launched with the support of the European Commission, is designed to address these issues and make it easier for researchers to build up pension savings. It has no vesting period, so no contributions are lost, even after a single month of work. Researchers moving between participating employers and countries can stay in the same fund instead of collecting pension pots to trace later.

Encouraging early-career researchers to plan for retirement 

At the beginning of their scientific careers, researchers often focus on securing stable employment, and pension savings may not be a priority. Yet starting early matters because savings have more time to grow, notes Indi Seehra, chair of the RESAVER Board of Directors. 

Being able to see pension savings accumulate can also give researchers a clearer picture of their benefits. “If you have one single pension scheme that allows you to work in different countries and you work two years in three countries, you can see your six years’ worth of benefit on your statement,” Seehra says. 

The Council of the European Union says RESAVER “has the potential to address the social protection issues faced by mobile researchers,” but says the plan needs greater awareness. RESAVER is currently available in nine EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and Czechia, while Germany and Portugal are planning to join.

For employers, RESAVER combines a scheme that can work across different national contexts with support to help them set it up and get employees on board. “It doesn't have to be complicated because we showed them how to do it,” Seehra says.

Complementing existing saving schemes

Choosing a pension scheme is usually a long-term commitment for both the employers and researchers, making trust paramount. Agustin Calvo, engagement and growth manager at RESAVER, says four factors are central to RESAVER’s appeal: direct backing from the European Union, its robust governance framework, its pan-European reach, and the reputation and credibility of its member institutions, including European Research Infrastructures, leading research centres, and universities.

“We’re not here to compete with or replace the existing schemes, but to fill the gaps,” adds Calvo, noting that more than 60% of researchers work in private companies, and the goal is to offer the pension solution to them as well. To extend its reach beyond large public research institutions and accelerate uptake among smaller employers, RESAVER has created a preconfigured plan called RESAVER GO.

In addition to helping mobile researchers, RESAVER is designed for organisations with research activities that do not offer an occupational pension to their staff, Calvo says. According to the European Commission, only 20% of Europeans participate in occupational pension schemes.

Making research careers more attractive

As well as complementing the Choose Europe Research Initiative, which aims to attract top global researchers, Monica Dietl, director of consultancy Europe Matters, notes that RESAVER can help draw researchers to so-called Widening countries (EU countries with lower-than-average research and innovation performance). “RESAVER can be of particular interest for Widening countries to make their R&I ecosystem more attractive,” Dietl notes.

RESAVER’s value extends beyond researchers who move between countries. By offering a pension solution that can work across participating countries, it helps employers provide benefits to both mobile and non-mobile staff, while making it easier to manage pensions across borders.

As RESAVER expands, its ambition is to broaden access to the scheme and make it available to more employers and staff across Europe. “Success is whether we're consistently getting new members joining and widening the number of staff that are included in the pension scheme,” Seehra concludes.