News Story

First Seminar on Responsible Research and Innovation and Science Education in Europe

Chris Valentine, Thursday 25 September 2014 | Annotate

The ENGAGE project meeting and the First Seminar on Responsible Research and Innovation and Science Education was held in Paris at the “L’espace des Sciences Pierre-Gilles de Gennes” – ESPCI ParisTech during the 22nd  to 24th of September.
This European event was organised by Alexandra Okada (OU - KMi) and  Matteo Merzagora (TRACES). There were more than fifty experts in the field including on Inquiry based Learning as well as more than twenty guests leaders representing more than twenty five European projects.
The aim of this seminar was to create an opportunity for knowledge exchange among FP7 and H2020 projects and experts that contribute(d) to connect Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE).
“RRI is an inclusive approach to research and innovation (R&I), to ensure that societal actors work together during the whole research and innovation process. It aims to better align both the process and outcomes of R&I, with the values, needs and expectations of European society.”
Some keys identified in the RRI approach are “Engagement”, “Gender Equality”, “Science Education”, “Ethics”, “Open Access” and “Governance”. Formal and informal education play a crucial role to mainstream these approaches in the scientific and social practices. By embedding the above mentioned areas in the teaching practices, we contribute to the shaping of the vision of science in future generations. This is why several recent FP7 and H2020 projects (ENGAGE being one of them) put efforts in developing the links between RRI and Science Education (with a special focus on IBSE).
This event in Paris intended to identify existing specific expertise in other projects that are useful for ones’ own project, in order to avoid missing connections between people and projects.