So the ERC is moving to narrative CV to evaluate candidates. Am I the only one confused by this trend towards narrative CV?
Yes, I understand that there are very different careers and that we often get assessed in a way that only counts some parts of the quality, performance, and impact of research. I guess what I’m confused about is that we’re now changing the way information is presented (the CV) when there is probably more of an issue with how we are evaluating. Also, for all the talk of “publish or perish” I really don’t think that this is the only game in town (even the dominant one?).
In the case of the ERC, we now get 4 pages to outline career paths, research achievements, and examples of peer recognition. As this is a continuous text, there’s plenty of space to describe career breaks or explain why something is particularly noteworthy. I guess there’s little to complain about here, other than it takes more time to read continuous text and that it becomes more difficult to compare candidates.
However, a narrative CV as a continuous text means that we’re changing the selection criteria to some extent in that we are now rewarding eloquence. Indeed, as it says, “narrative CVs could inadvertently disadvantage individuals from cultures where self-promotion or certain forms of storytelling are not the norm”, or perhaps anyone who is not a native speaker?
Will we now start mentioning teaching load, (non-) access to research assistants, part-time or second jobs, a boss who insists on doing research in a certain way, etc.? There’s space for this in a narrative CV, but can we suddenly judge this fairly, and what do we do with information that isn’t there (thus not comparable)? Perhaps narrative CV are simply more honest in that they highlight how we cannot really compare, but then how do we ensure a fair selection?
I don’t understand how they can claim that a narrative CV “also takes the emphasis off the prestige of the institutions a researcher has worked in.” My guess would have been the opposite, that is more focus on the “reputation” of universities and publication outlets, because when there is too much information and difficult information (what does “excellence” really mean?), we humans cling to cognitive shortcuts — yes, the situations where stereotypes creep in, where we choose others who we perceive as similar to ourselves.
Funnily enough, I think there’s a bigger change, namely that ERC will no longer score candidates: Only the projects will be scored. This we could have done without narrative CV.
Published 15 March 2024