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I was offered a permanent position as a "senior researcher" in Europe without teaching responsibilities. As some of you may know, the term "tenure" is getting more and more popular in Europe.

"Can this position be called "tenure-track" since, to my best knowledge, tenure is connected with professorships?"

After reading the comments below of why "are you asking that?"

Here is why:

  1. What can I write in my CV to say that I'm proud of my permanent position?
  2. Feeling honoured of that, and before leaving my current work, you know in academia, your colleagues might ask what is your next position safety-level? Is it professional to say "a tenure position"?
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    Leaving aside the language problem ("tenure-track" doesn't necessarily exist as a concept in whichever country this is, and "professorship" might mean something closer to "head of department" than "lecturer"), this looks like an XY question. "Can be called" in what context? Are you worrying about what you'll write on your CV in the future? About how to explain it to a friend/colleague/whatever who only knows the US system? About what your chances are of promotion to a teaching position? Something else?
    – Peter Taylor
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 11:06
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    Europe is a big place. "Senior research" can mean different things in different institutions. For example, in France, "senior research" at one of the national institutes is essentially equivalent to "full professor" elsewhere (including "tenure", i.e. job security) except there are not teaching duties.
    – user9646
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 11:32
  • There are institutions where non-faculty researchers can be tenured (including my current institution) and there are many institutions around the world where there is no such thing as "tenure." Thus the premises of the question are false and the question should be closed.
    – Brian Borchers
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 15:46
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    Your CV isn't where you write how proud you are of your new position. Try your blog ;) The CV should just list the job title that you were given. As for your colleagues, I'm sure you can make them plenty jealous just by saying "a permanent research position with no teaching duties"...
    – nengel
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 10:21
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    Well, some people genuinely love teaching, but for many others, yes they will be jealous. Research output counts a lot more for hiring decisions at research universities than teaching experience, so it's often felt to be taking away valuable research time...
    – nengel
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 10:31

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Tenure track is, at least in my experience, typically associated with a position leading to a full professorship. In many countries, tenured professors have employment rights that go beyond the laws for regular permanent positions, conferring them independence to do their job with (almost) complete academic freedom.

A permanent position is just that - a permanent position, subject to the typical labor laws in most countries. I would not call it tenure or tenure track.

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    Nobody really uses the word 'tenure' where I'm working (France, maybe it's different elsewhere in Europe). A permanent job can (or can not) lead to a professor track - it would really depend on OP's title. You can have permanent 'academic' jobs (Assistant Prof) which do, or permanent (e.g. Research Engineer) jobs which don't lead to a permanent professor job. What is your title OP?
    – la femme cosmique
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 11:08
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    The OP specifically referred to Europe, where these things vary between countries and compared to the US and elsewhere. This answer seems like roughly the correct answer for a US-based context, though there are exceptions where "tenure" exists for non-'professor' job titles (and professorships that are not part of tenure-track). Certainly I agree though that "permanent" and "tenure-track" are not at all synonymous.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 16:59

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