LEGAL MODEL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR RESEARCHERS INTO UKRAINIAN LEGISLATION

Abstract

The article examines the problems of the legal implementation of the professional standards established by the European Charter for Researchers into Ukrainian legislation, taking into account the specific features of the national system of legal statuses of individuals engaged in scientific and scientific-technical activities. It is substantiated that the current European Charter for Researchers establishes a comprehensive professional standard for researchers encompassing rights and obligations, academic freedom, professional responsibility and competence, research integrity, open science, working conditions, professional development, mobility, and career advancement. The four blocks of principles of the European Charter for Researchers are analysed, and their heterogeneity in terms of legal content and subject matter of legal regulation is identified. It is established that Ukrainian legislation does not contain a unified legal category of “researcher”; instead, it provides for a system of interrelated legal statuses of individuals engaged in scientific and scientific-technical activities, including a scientist, research worker, academic and teaching staff member, postgraduate student, and doctoral student. It is demonstrated that the absence of a unified professional status of a researcher does not constitute an obstacle to the implementation of European professional standards, since the decisive criterion for their integration into national legislation should be the subject matter of legal regulation of the relevant social relations rather than the formal attribution of a standard to a particular category of person. A legal model for the implementation of the European Charter for Researchers into Ukrainian legislation is proposed based on a differentiated approach: general professional standards established by Blocks 1 and 4 of the European Charter for Researchers should be integrated into the general provisions of legislation in the field of science, whereas the standards of Blocks 2 and 3, relating to working conditions, employment, assessment, recruitment, career development, and professional development, should be incorporated into specific provisions defining the employment-law status of research and academic and teaching staff. It is substantiated that this model enables the gradual implementation of professional standards without introducing a new legal category of “researcher” into Ukrainian legislation and without altering the established system of legal statuses of individuals engaged in scientific and scientific-technical activities. The practical significance of the proposed approach lies in its potential to improve national legislation in accordance with European approaches, strengthen academic freedom and professional mobility, enhance the sustainability and attractiveness of research careers, and create appropriate legal conditions for Ukraine’s further integration into the European Research Area.