SMART Researchers - What Matters vs. What Is Supported? A Comparative Analysis of Competency Importance and Institutional Support among Early-Stage Researchers and Mentors in Serbia, Croatia and Greece

This Consolidated Multi-Country ResearchComp Report presents a comparative analysis of the SMART Researchers survey across Serbia, Croatia and Greece. It integrates quantitative and qualitative evidence from early-stage researchers (ESRs) and mentors/supervisors to assess the importance of research competences and the level of institutional support available for their development.

The analysis covers all 39 ResearchComp competences across seven competence areas and compares Importance–Support gaps across six national respondent samples. The report includes 247 early-stage researchers and 183 mentors/supervisors and provides country-level and cross-country comparisons, competence-level interpretations, and qualitative analysis of open-ended responses.

The report identifies universal cross-country priorities as well as country-specific development needs and provides evidence to support the design of the SMART Researchers ResearchComp-based micro-credentialing and certification framework.

The report was developed within Task T3.1 – Baseline assessment and competency mapping, under WP3 – Building capacities through ResearchComp-based micro-credentialing and certification framework, of the SMART Researchers project.

Project: SMART Researchers
Grant Agreement No.: 101216967
Call: HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02
Project duration: 1 September 2025 – 31 August 2028
Project website: https://smartresearchers.eu/