The Value of Human Capital Formation at CERN

This report summarises the results of the impacts of training that Early Career Researchers (ECR) experience during their activity in CERN’s LHC/HL-LHC programme. The report focuses on demonstrating the robustness of the findings by validating them using additional information such as the experience gained with an initial survey in the frame of the CERN Alumni Network , a survey carried out with the leaders of those teams in CERN projects that form the frame for the training activities, salary surveys in the domain of physics and salary databases. The findings lead to the following conclusions: • An experience-based learning process at Research Infrastructure is instrumental in creating skills that are needed by economy. • The study confirmed both quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of training in a CERN accelerator project in the form of a 5% to 13% salary premium for ECRs, depending on the level of higher education and technology field. • The salary premium for ECRs involved in CERN projects is much higher in case of additionally acquired competencies - beyond the project technical domain - such as data analysis and software development skills for physicists and engineers.