Opening Research Organisations in the European Research Area

Specific Challenge

This topic focuses on the institutional changes needed to cope with the new interactions between Research Funding and Performing Organisations (RFPOs) and RRI stakeholders. Existing RFPOs become more “porous”, accepting inputs from what used to be seen as outsiders (extended peer review in funding agencies is an early example). There is a move towards “co-creation” (co-construction in policy and design phases; actual co-production of research organization and performance; co-evaluation of proposals, projects and programmes). Overall, at the macro-level, so-called quadruple helix formations might be emerging, RRI dimensions being an integral part of these developments.

Within the general trend, the dissemination of RRI practices varies from one discipline to another and from one country to another. Not all researchers and research policy-makers have the same knowledge and skills to adapt to these changes. In order to address these gaps specific trainings for researchers and academics (in particular young scientist during under- and post-graduate training) but also policy-makers and staff working in funding bodies, need to be supported.

Scope

From the perspective of an open science and RRI in the ERA, the above developments are desirable, so it is important to support institutional changes through exchanges between RFPOs in order to benchmark governance settings, map what is happening, identify the drivers and the barriers, how to diagnose the interests and values at stake, and upgrade related skills.

Proposals shall consider co-creation experiences and experiments, some of them being conflictual and/or leading to controversies. They will also consider further issues, in particular of a longitudinal epistemological nature, as different competencies and epistemic authority are involved. They can as well design experiments and try them out, informed by the above reflective components (i.e. benchmarking, mapping, drivers and barriers, interests and values).

In addition, the proposals will support the improvement and consolidation of training material and reach through training the highest number of stakeholders in the European Research Area. The training actions proposed must be relevant for the specific scientific fields considered. They must be practical, engaging, and outcome-oriented. They would use as much as possible existing EC funded training initiatives (e.g. RRI-TOOLS, FOSTER, not excluding others). Online didactic material and training toolkits will be made available free of charge/open access for re-use linked with existing online material.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 3 and 3.35 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

This action allows for the provision of financial support to third parties in line with the conditions set out in Part K of the General Annexes.

Expected Impact

The funded activities:

  • Will enrich and improve the quality of existing training materials on RRI and open science;
  • Will increase general knowledge on RRI and open science practices by sharing experience across different disciplines;
  • Will contribute to changes in RFPOs governance settings (including institutional changes and stakeholder behaviours) that are consistent with open science and RRI.
Institution
Date de candidature
Discipline
Humanités
Sciences sociales
Autres