GRACE aims to contribute to the European Commission's objective of spreading and embedding Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in the European Research Area through the development of a set of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) Grounding Actions (GAs) in six Research Funding and Performing Organisations (RFPO) leading to fundamental RRI-oriented institutional changes during the lifetime of the project. These GAs will be incorporated in an eight-year-long roadmap to set a solid platform for attaining further institutional changes in the five years after GRACE ends.
Ecsite's role is to assist the six implementing organisations in two RRI areas: science education and citizen engagement with science. This journey will be accompanied by an evaluation and impact assessment scheme developed to oversee and monitor the project's processes and impacts, using MoRRI and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators, as well as the European Commission's Science with and for Society (SwafS) Key Performance Indicators.
GRACE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no. 824521.
List of project partners
- FONDATION EUROPEENNE DE LA SCIENCE (ESF)
- K&I
- AARHUS UNIVERSITET
- KENTRO EREVNON NOTIOANATOLIKIS EVROPIS ASTIKI MI KERDOSKOPIKI ETAIREIA
- SEERC
- ECSITE
- RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
- UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI SIENA
- IVL SVENSKA MILJOEINSTITUTET AB
- AGENCIA DE GESTIO D'AJUTS UNIVERSITARIS I DE RECERCA
- ZNANSTVENORAZISKOVALNI CENTER SLOVENSKE AKADEMIJE ZNANOSTI IN UMETNOSTI
Resources
This Public Engagement training has been organised as part of the EU-funded GRACE project’s activities related to the RRI key of Public Engagement.
Four online training sessions on Public Engagement were held for the staff of the project partners between October and December 2021, with the aim of providing them with the knowledge, strategies and reflection to feel empowered about this topic and take action in their own organisations.
Public engagement is emerging – alongside other RRI dimensions – as a key component in how research funding organisations are working to ensure that research is societally relevant and impactful: an explicit evaluation criterion in the awarding of research funding, or included as a requirement for qualitative research, or incentivised through other schemes and awards.
Public engagement is a foundational key of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), having a crucial role to play in the establishment of bonds between science and society based on trust, two-way dialogue, and long-term thinking. This webinar, organised as part of the GRACE project's final webinar series, asked how value is created and demonstrated at different levels for a strong case for public engagement.
The 'Reflection Tool' is for anybody and any team who wants to take action that strengthens Responsible Research and Innovation, with steps to follow for a fruitful reflection and small-group discussion on vision, goals and implementation of the desired action.