>
© IRD/J. Orempuller
■
■
■
44
45
<
Resources and management
■ Financial resources
46
■ Human resources
48
■ Information systems
50
■ Evaluation
51
■ Professional conduct and ethics
52
>
financial resources
■
Financial resources
■
Our 2002 research and
applications activities
required considerable
financial and human
resources. Operations
were geared to the objectives of the 2001-2004
four-year contract with the
State; the Evaluation and
Planning Department (DEP)
has designed a set of indicators to monitor performance of this contract.
In 2002, the modernisation
and administrative simplification plan yielded its first
results. A major information systems strategy to
modernise IRD management processes entered
its first phase with the
SORGHO project for
human resources and
budget management.
The Institute continued
to renovate property
holdings and invest in
scientific equipment.
46
47
T
HE IRD’s initial budget for 2002 was
set at €193.6 million for expenditure
and €179.9 million for revenues, to
be balanced from working capital,
mainly to finance the first phase of
the information systems strategy.
When the accounts were closed, actual expenditure was €177.7 million and revenues €176.1
million, reflecting withdrawal of €1.5 million
from working capital.
resources
The IRD’s budget is based on two sources of
funding: State subsidies and revenues from
research contracts.
Budgeted revenues were set at €179.95 million. Actual revenues were €176.14 million.
State subsidies amounted to €162.86 million.
Revenues from research contracts were
€11,299,583, compared to the forecast
€11,756,868, and miscellaneous revenues
were €1,483,837, compared to the forecast
€1,639,092.
Expenditure
Salaries accounted for 70% of the Institute’s
budget in 2002 – €126.8 million, of which
€116.9 million went to tenured staff.
As in the previous year, the 2002 budget
reflected the IRD’s policy of allocating more
resources to basic support for the units (see
Table 2).
Resources allocated to incentive actions illustrate the IRD’s commitment to French research
establishments and international organisations
who are our partners. In 2002, the IRD contributed €427,000 to the activities of seven
French research programmes. The IRD also
belongs to a number of partnerships of scientific interest (GIS), public interest (GIP) or economic interest (GIE), to which we contributed
€262,000.
The IRD also contributed €50,000 to the
“Environment and regional management” federative research institute, and €53,000 to various networks.
We renovated the chemistry building at the
Cayenne centre and continued building greenhouses at the Montpellier centre. The genetic
epidemiology laboratory was also upgraded.
Tasks remaining are the extension to the biology
and population management centre and the
IRD’s financial contribution to building the
Luminy engineering school extension. This is
intended to house the Marseille federative
research institute for agro-industrial biotechnology (IFR IBAIM).
The IRD acquired a genotyping machine and a
sequencer, and is due to contribute €305,000
to acquiring a mass spectrometer jointly with
the CNRS and the CEA.
Finally, the first action has been taken under the
information systems strategy. The bid process
was launched for a consultant to assistant with
the SORGHO human resource and budget management project. The call for tenders is still
open in 2003. Expenditure on this project in
2002 was €2.3 million. ■
The Institute received an operating subsidy
under Title III of the Finance Law to the tune of
€135,569,977 for salaries, hosted fellowships,
in-service training and welfare.
The investment subsidy received under Title VI
was €27,295,902.
Revenues from research contracts are treated as
resources allocated to research and service
units: the sums made available to units are
directly linked to their revenues from these contracts. The budget allocated to research units in
2002 was therefore based on forecast revenues
of €12.4 million. Actual revenues were 95.09%
of the forecast.
© IRD/A. Laraque
■
Table 1
€ million
2.19
3.16
3.21
0.28
0.16
0.12
2.66
Source
DME - Earth and environment
DRV - Living resources
DSS - Societies and health
DEV - Expertise and consulting
DSF - Support and training
DIC - Information and communication
Partners (European Union, scientific partnerships, etc.)
TOTAL
Table 2
Credits allocated to research units, by scientific theme (in € million)
The Earth’s crust: processes and natural hazards
Continental, coastal and marine environments
Climate: variability and impact
Water: resources and sustainable development
Total Earth and Environment dept.
Agricultural and microbial biodiversity
Fishery and aquatic ecology
Terrestrial ecosystems and resources
Total Living Resources department
Urban dynamics
Man and the environment
Identities and representations
Development policy and globalisation
Society/health interactions
Major endemic diseases
Total Societies and Health department
OVERALL TOTAL
Support
credits
1.27
0.61
0.88
0.87
3.63
2.10
1.23
1.25
4.58
0.24
0.46
0.31
0.38
0.47
1.26
3.12
11.33
IRD resources
8%
Other resources
16%
Title VI grant
semi-heavy
equipment
76%
Title III grant
0.20
0.20
Figure 2
0.02
0.02
Sources of resources for research contracts
9%
Other public
and private partners
5%
0.15
0.15
0.37
- other (ship’s crews, subsidised job creation contracts)
Temporary staff (grantees, interns, insourcing, youth volunteers, international trainees)
In-service training
Welfare
Partnership support
Taxes and obligatory provisions
TOTAL
23%
European Union
- head office and administration
- general expenses (rents, insurance, travel for assignments)
- consulting, results promotion, scientific information
and communication
- financing the information systems master plan
Basic support for research units
Obligatory provisions and reserves
TOTAL
6%
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
30%
92.29
26.14
6.05
4.40
1.65
1.75
1.21
0.85
2.44
1.15
131.88
Other ministries
and French public bodies
Figure 3
Geographical breakdown of operating and investment expenditure
2%
Other countries
5%
Asia-Pacific
11%
Operating and investment expenditure (in € million)
Building work, major equipment, incentive action
Programme operations
Indirect and logistical resources
of which: - centres’ operating budgets
27%
Ministry of Research
and Technology
International
institutions
Staff expenditure (in € million)
Tenured staff salaries
Social security contributions
Staff covered by trade union wage agreements
of which: - locally recruited staff
Table 4
Figure 1
11.79
Theme, department
Table 3
resources
Sources of research agreement revenues (in € million)
Latin America
1.54
10.77
20.59
7.97
6.78
2.93
2.22
0.69
13.44
0.03
46.37
49%
Mainland France
21%
Africa and
Indian Ocean
12%
French overseas
dependencies (DOM-TOM)
<
>
human resources
■
Human resources
■
I
N 2002, the number of budgeted staff rose from 1,634
to 1,654. These 20 new
posts, plus 22 reclassifications, reflect the IRD’s intention to improve the conditions of our engineers and
technicians, and make more
skills available for the research
units. Junior researchers are
also being given greater opportunity for promotion to senior
research posts.
In 2002, the IRD recruited 40
researchers and 51 engineers
and technicians from outside.
At 31 December 2002, the IRD
had 33 lecturer-researchers or
researchers on secondment
from other institutions, significantly more than the previous
year. To these may be added 15
researchers transferred from
other establishments to IRD
posts outside mainland France.
Locally recruited staff (412)
continue to make a major
contribution to the IRD’s work.
This year 37 IRD researchers
and 18 engineers and technicians retired.
At 31 December, 501 staff were working outside
mainland France, including 70% in Africa and
the French overseas dependencies (DOM-TOM).
Of these, 58.6% are researchers, of whom
42.3% work in Africa, 25.6% in Latin America,
20.8% in DOM-TOM, 9.6% in Asia, and 1.7% in
countries of the North.
The reduction in the number of staff working
outside mainland France in 2002 is due to the
retirement of engineers and technicians who
have yet to be replaced.
Women are in a slight majority up to the age of
41, above which men are more numerous.
Altogether the IRD had 36.1% female staff in
2002, compared with 33.7% the previous year.
There were 18.3% female researchers, compared with 16% in 2001, and this increase is
significant at every level.
The average age of tenured staff has declined
slightly. The overall average age is 45.8:
researchers 47.7, engineers 44.1 and technicians 43.5.
engineers’ and technicians’ careers
A working group including representatives of
staff and general management has been set up
to make suggestions for improving the career
prospects of the IRD’s engineers and technicians.
The adoption of Referens, the national job specification reference system for research and
higher education, was widely publicised within
the IRD. Referens is being phased into all aspects
of human resources management (mobility,
training, assessment, etc.).
A study of job descriptions and skills at the IRD
has been launched, with a view to improving
human resources management and forward
planning for engineers’ and technicians’ jobs
and competencies. This study is due for completion in 2004.
shorter working hours
The new French law introducing the 35-hour
week came into effect on 1 January 2002. An
end-of-year survey revealed no difficulties affecting working procedures at the IRD. Ninety per
cent of IRD staff have chosen not to change their
weekly hours worked, but to take days off in lieu.
enable the same number of researchers and
non-research staff to work in countries of the
South: staff may now be sent on missions
longer than three months. Lecturer-researchers
in IRD units are also eligible. In 2002 there were
33 researchers, engineers and technicians on
long-term missions – a total of 37 missions.
labour relations
Apart from the regular meetings laid down by
law and the creation of the working group on
engineers and technicians’ careers, the Directorate General meets each of the representative
trade unions twice a year to present the
IRD’s strategy and answer staff questions as
expressed by their representatives. ■
in-service training
The budget for in-service training returned to its
2000 level of € 1.2 million. Ninety per cent of
applications for training are from individuals. In
2002, 51% of individual applications and 84%
of collective applications were approved.
long-term missions
Given the reduced budget for expatriation, a
new procedure was introduced in 2002 to
© IRD/M. Fromaget
■
IRD staff need to be aware of research
conditions in Africa
48
49
resources
Breakdown of tenured staff by commission
Figure 1
13.6 %
S1 Physics and
chemistry of the global
environment
2.0 %
No commission
Table 1
Budgeted staff
13.9 %
25.0 %
S2 Biology
and medicine
A2 Administration
and management
15.1 %
S3 Science of ecological
systems
17.2 %
A1 Engineering
and consultancy
13.2 %
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
823
331
260
195
823
338
260
188
830
347
310
140
832
355
350
98
831
371
421
11
833
393
417
11
1,609
1,609
1,627
1,635
1,634
1,654
Researchers
Engineers
Technicians
Administrative staff
Total
S4 Humanities and social
sciences
Age pyramid: tenured staff
Figure 2
Table 2
Age
nomber
of staff
Figure 3
30
20
10
0
Men
25.8 %
12.0 %
French overseas
dependencies
(DOM-TOM)
36.1%
Total
140
168
247
6
18.3
45.8
60.7
46.2
767
367
407
13
TOTAL
993
-
561
-
1,554
Geographical breakdown of staff: details
Tenured
staff
Other
staff
Total
%
Africa and Middle East
Latin America
Asia-Pacific
Northern countries
1,053
191
175
95
34
6
53
61
366
45
19
0
1,106
252
541
140
53
6
52.7
12.0
25.8
6.7
2.5
0.3
Total
1,554
544
2,098
Mainland France
DOM-TOM
0
10
20
30
40
50
100
0.3 %
Northern countries
Latin America
Africa and
Middle East
Women
81.7
54.2
39.3
53.8
Posting
2.5 %
6.7 %
63.9%
627
199
160
7
Table 3
Geographical breakdown of staff
Asia-Pacific
Men
Researchers
Engineers
Technicians
Administrative staff
Grade
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
-
Women
Breakdown of tenured staff by category and gender
Table 4
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Researchers
45.6
45.5
41.1
36.9
39.9
38.8
All staff
40.2
39.0
36.0
32.3
34.5
32.2
52.7 %
Mainland France
Percentage of postings outside mainland France, tenured staff
<
>
resources
information systems
■
Information systems
■
■
The modernisation drive
initiated by the IRD’s
administration included a
general re-assessment of
the Institute’s information
system. This approach was
incorporated in the 20012004 four-year contract
between the IRD and the
State. The resulting information systems master
plan was approved in 2001
by the parent ministries,
the Budget Ministry and
The Information Systems department teams
were reorganised and strengthened to this
effect. Tighter management was introduced,
with a six-monthly follow-up by the Institute’s
Board of Trustees and parent ministries. There
was a major in-house communication drive
about the launch of the master plan. The plan
for changes in the functional architecture was
defined, as was the plan for technical computing architecture, which has to take into account
the Institute’s worldwide geographical spread.
With the introduction of an office automation
management service, staff will have help closer
to hand for their computer problems.
© IRD/J. Delvigne
the IRD Board of Trustees.
T
of the master plan
were introduced in 2002. It begins
with the development of an organisational, technical and functional base
on which solutions for each sector will
be grounded.
HE FIRST COMPONENTS
50
51
Among the sectoral projects, SORGHO, launched
in 2002, will overhaul the payroll management,
human resources and finance information
systems. An integrated, open-ended solution
interoperable with those of the other French
research institutions, will make it possible to circulate information within and between institutions. It will be a management tool tailored to
the IRD’s missions. The specifications include a
management module for resources allocated to
projects; the purpose of this is to federate
resources, be they internal or external. Altogether this will assist the IRD in its intention to
play a pivotal role in development research.
An “indicators committee” has also been set
up. Its members – users and computer specialists – select the data to be fed into descriptive
and management indicators, especially those
for the four-year contract. Discussion workshops on scientific data processing issues were
also held, particularly on the question of establishing, using and conserving databases.
As regards modernisation of services, the IRD
photo library of 20,000 photos was re-computerised during the year, and re-computerisation
of the documentation centres began. Development of the Web portal to give online access
the IRD’s scientific output continues – a big step
in promoting the Institute’s work.
At present we are testing facilitation tools: our
highly mobile and geographically scattered staff
need mobile tools, while collaboration requires
videoconferencing, fora, project spaces and
tools for knowledge management and for sharing document revision and schedules. ■
management
evaluation
Evaluation
A researcher’s work is assessed every two years
by one of the sectoral scientific commissions. In
2002, the commissions examined about 300
individual files. They also assessed applications
for promotion from Grade 3 to Grade 2 junior
researchers, one application for promotion to
Grade 1, 39 applications by Grade 2 research
directors for promotion to Grade 1, and 13
applications by Grade 1 research directors for
promotion to Exceptional Grade.
The sectoral commissions also examined the
activities of engineers and technicians within
their structures, based on the work of the
Administration and Management commission –
this is a new approach for the IRD.
The commissions also assessed the new
research projects submitted during the year.
Most were for Joint Research Units. Of the 20
projects submitted, 11 concerned new units,
which were assessed from the application files
and on site, while 9 concerned units to be
renewed under the French universities’ fouryear plan.
Competitive recruitment
of researchers
At their autumn sessions, the commissions
took part in the shortlist stage of research staff
recruitments. During the 2002 recruitment
campaign 21 research directors’ posts
(directeur de recherche, DR) were opened, and
25 junior researcher posts (chargé de
recherche, CR). While most of the applications
for DR posts were from within the IRD, the vast
majority of the 296 applicants for CR posts had
no prior links with the Institute. Similarly, only
18% of candidates had written their theses in
IRD laboratories. These figures are an indication
of the positive image the Institute has in the
outside world, and the extent to which young
scientists are attracted by research-for-development themes. A survey of applicants brought
some interesting facts to light: the largest number of applications were in the social sciences;
among the young, research posts attracted as
many women as men; and women were the
majority in biology, medicine and social sciences. The survey also gave a more detailed
profile of the applicants, 70% of whom had
already collaborated with a non-French
European laboratory. Of those who had undertaken post-doctoral studies, 40% had done so
abroad.
and accompanies the Institute’s multi-year
plan. The indicators are intended for qualifying
and, where applicable, quantifying the different
aspects of the Institute’s work and monitoring
changes over time; recurrent observation of the
indicators’ levels and trends show how well the
IRD is fulfilling its contractual commitments.
The main headings used to establish the indicators are territorial presence, scientific policy,
inter-institutional co-operation, professional
conduct and ethics, employment, support
and training for Southern communities,
information, surveys and consultancy, and
communication. ■
In 2002 the IRD’s Evaluation and
Planning department organised
assessments of staff and structures, assisting the work of the
Commissions and the Scientific
Committee. The department
also monitored the competitive
recruitment of research staff of
all grades and developed indicators of the Institute’s activity.
Indicators
In 2002 the evaluation and planning department drew up the IRD indicators document,
which was submitted to the Board of Trustees
© IRD/M. Bournof
Individual assessments
<
>
ethics
■
Professional Conduct and Ethics
■
■
Dominique Lecourt, the
new chairman of the IRD
consultative committee
on professional conduct
and ethics (CCDE), presided
over the first plenary session in June. The meeting
T
HREE PLENARY SESSIONS are held every
year to ensure continuity. At each session, the committee meets a head of
department or section to gain a fuller
awareness of the IRD’s activities and
related ethical issues. At the October
session, the committee met the head of the
Expertise and Consulting Department. The discussion focused on three issues: selection and
A website (www.ird.fr/ccde) was launched to
publicise the committee’s activities, inform users
about the role of the committee and current
issues, and encourage exchanges with the scientific community.
In particular, the committee will hold meetings
with its counterparts from other institutions,
to compare experiences and discuss common
concerns. ■
working conditions of experts; working rules
and relations with private consultants; and the
role and usefulness of patents.
To ascertain ethical concerns arising in the field
and incorporate them into a code of conduct
that will reflect contributions from all concerned, the committee began to meet staff
from the IRD and its partners in their working
environment.
gave a broad overview of
the committee’s operation
and activities, which
we had been able to start
thanks to the appointment
of a project leader.
© IRD
I
52
53
OCTOBER, the committee took part in the first inter-organisation conference on ethics approaches in research organisations. It was also a co-organiser of the first workshop on
ethics and quality in clinical research in French-speaking
countries. Partners included the French Institute of Health and
Medical Research (INSERM) , the Paris Hospitals ethics group,
the Pan African Bioethics Initiative, the French AIDS research
agency and the Pasteur Institute.
N