The "HR Excellence in Research" label, awarded by the European Commission, publicly accredits universities and research centres that are committed to aligning their human resources policies with the principles set out in the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct. The forty principles contained in these documents were defined in 2005 in the framework of the European Research Area (ERA) with the aim of contributing to the development of an attractive European labour market for researchers.

For the University, the seal of Excellence in Human Resources for Research represents the culmination of the initial phase of the "Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R)" process. A process promoted by the Rector, Rosa Visiedo, and coordinated by the International Research Projects Office, which reports to the Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Teaching Staff, in collaboration with the Corporate Human Resources Department.

After the initial phase, in which the European Commission evaluators have highlighted the important work carried out to develop an agenda consistent with the University's research strategy, the implementation phase begins, which aims to develop the Action Plan to bring the University's People and Research policies closer to these 40 principles. These principles specify the roles, responsibilities and rights of both researchers and the entities that employ and/or fund them, as well as the general principles and requirements for the recruitment of researchers.

The International Research Projects Office believes that obtaining the Seal will increase the attractiveness of the University and help to attract and retain talent, for example, through European programmes for the development of research careers, such as the Marie S. Curie Actions for pre- and post-doctoral researchers, or the European Research Council (ERC) project programme. All funding agencies highly value this accreditation in the awarding of research funding.