Boosting Research Performance in France with Ten Simple Actions/Ideas

• Convert professors/researchers existing salaries to nine months compensation and allow them to get summer pay through grants to counter effect the absence of internationally competitive salaries
• Increase the expected PhD duration from three years to four years while allowing them to enroll for a fifth year as well while lightening the requirements/expectations regarding the final PhD manuscript (it takes approx six months to be prepared currently)
• Increase the maximum number of PhD students under supervision to eight, and remove the HDR condition as well as the CNU qualifications to become a professor or replace existing elected panels from international transparent committees
• Increase competitive funding, through the Agence nationale de la recherche and remove bureaucratic and completely obscure rules. Reduce the dispersion of the funding agencies and improve the process of grants submission evaluation, as well as make the whole system more transparent and more agile
• Restructure industrial benefits when funding research through competitive calls. Replace the "Industrial Research Credit" with a more competitive funding referring to joint state-industry funding of proposals where industry supports its own funding
• Introduce mechanisms to increase the absorption of PhDs from the industry as well as encourage industry to offer them competitive salaries towards encouraging and motivating excellent students to pursue graduate studies
• Introduce half year sabbatical leaves formally with salary preservation
• Rethink the duration of the probation period prior to become a state/permanent researcher/professor
• Improve the attractiveness of France to foreign professors in particular at the early stage of their career through more flexible and better paid appointments, where promotions are decided at the school level
• Merge teaching departments with research labs while removing the hierarchical/pyramidal structure/organization of research labs and introduce regular rotation on the upper management