Bottom-up approach to build SwafS knowledge base

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

The objectives of the SwafS part of Horizon 2020 are to build effective co-operation between science and society, foster the recruitment of new talent for science, and to pair scientific excellence with social awareness and responsibility. There are eight lines of actions (science careers, gender equality, public engagement, science education, open access/open data, governance and ethics, the precautionary principle, science communication), all of which are pertinent to reaching the SwafS’ objectives.

The SwafS Work Programmes have included a range of topics that may be characterised as being relatively open (‘bottom-up’) or closed (‘prescriptive’), the choice of which has depended on the area of activity, the policy/research demands, and awareness of the need to open up space for creativity and good ideas to flow from applicants on transdisciplinary issues of concern. Even with this balance of open and closed topics, it is necessary to create space for ideas that fill gaps, ‘connect the dots’ between projects, activities and objectives, or focus on innovative or emerging issues that have so far not been broached.

This topic is completely bottom-up (“open”), and therefore a challenge to applicants to propose innovative research and innovation actions that are needed to help meet SwafS objectives.

To respond this specific challenge, applicants could choose to consider: how societal actors, including young people, behave, understand, react to and interact with science and scientific developments, and their motives for engaging in science-related activities; how digital technologies can lead to new forms of science-based advocacy, and how science and technology studies and different disciplines (e.g. behavioural sciences, communication studies, gender studies, linguistics, and social anthropology) – and multi/transdisciplinary approaches – can help explain interactions between science and society; research and innovation gaps in relation to people's needs and concerns and in any of the areas or dimensions covered by RRI; RRI achievement rewards to highlight the organisations that are more RRI aware (answering questions such as how such a reward could work and based on which criteria);the implications of deep changes in science and innovation and their interactions with society and the economy, such as the transition to open science and open innovation, and resultant changes in the relationships between science and society.

Applicants should demonstrate that they aim to fill important gaps in the evidence base, how they will fill these gaps, and how they will deepen the evidence base. Scientific and other types of publication should be foreseen. Activities to involve stakeholders from all parts of the quadruple helix within the research and innovation activities will be favoured.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU between EUR 0.90 million and EUR 1.10 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Consortia should choose a basket of indicators to measure the impact of their work. In particular, consortia are expected to contribute to one or more of the MoRRI indicators ^[1]. R&I outcomes should help build effective cooperation between science and society, foster the recruitment of new talent for science, and pair scientific excellence with social awareness and responsibility. Scientific and other types of publication should be foreseen.

This activity is the continuation of SwafS.20.2018-2019 in 2020.

RRI

[1]See http://www.technopolis-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2171_D3.2.pdf (Table 3.2) and/or to the Sustainable Development Goals http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/