GRRIP Winter Newsletter 2022-2023

GRRIP Winter Newsletter 2022-2023

By Graham on February 24, 2023 in News Articles, Newsletter

Dear GRRIP odyssey companions,
We come to the end of the GRRIP project!

Over the past four years, the GRRIP project has worked on embedding sustainable Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) practices in four research performing organisations (RPOs) and one dual-function RPO and research funding organisation (RFO) (total 5 RPOs&RFO) in the marine and maritime sector to achieve institutional and cultural change. These organisations are:

  • The Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and innovation, Ireland
  • Swansea University, United Kingdom
  • Institut Universitaire Mer et Littoral (Sea and Littoral Research Institute), France
  • The Oceanic Platform for the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), Spain
  • WavEC Offshore Renewables (WavEC), Portugal

Despite the multitude of challenges which are part of organisational change projects, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, GRRIP has been successful in bringing about evidence-based institutional changes in the RRI areas of gender equality (and broader equality, diversity, and inclusion aspects), public engagement, science education, ethics, and open access.
All reports from the project will be available on the GRRIP website soon!
We take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to you for joining us in this journey, as advisors and participants!

Click here to download the GRRIP Winter Newsletter 2022-2023.

GRRIP Autumn Newsletter 2022

GRRIP Autumn Newsletter 2022

By Graham on October 21, 2022 in News Articles, Newsletter

We’re pleased to present the latest edition of the GRRIP Project Newsletter. The Autumn 2022 edition contains:

  • Foreword by Professor Malcolm Fisk, Professor of Ageing and Digital Health in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media at De Montfort University (page 1).
  • Interview with Jeremy Gault, formerly Beaufort Operations Manager and MaREI Thematic Lead for Coastal and Marine Systems (pages 2-5).
  • Partner Profile: MaREI (page 6).
  • Article by Eric Jensen, looking at stories of RRI implementation (pages 7-8).
  • Updates on the latest project related events and collaborations (page 9).

GRRIP AUTUMN NEWSLETTER 2022

GRRIP Summer Newsletter 2022

GRRIP Summer Newsletter 2022

By Graham on August 30, 2022 in News Articles, Newsletter

We’re pleased to present the latest edition of the GRRIP Project Newsletter. The Summer 2022 edition contains:

  • Foreword by Alexander Gerber, Full Professor and Programme Chair of Science Communication at Germany’s international Rhine-Waal University, and Research Director at the extramural Institute for Science and Innovation Communication (page 1).
  • Interview with Dr. Ruth Callaway, Senior Research Officer, Department of Biosciences at Swansea University (pages 2-4).
  • Partner Profile: Swansea University (page 5).
  • Article by Dr. Xiaoyue Tan and Prof. Dr. Hub Zwart entitled ‘GRRIP Project – collective reflection through Mutual Learning: a continuous process’ (pages 6-7).
  • Updates on the latest project related events and collaborations (pages 8-9).

GRRIP SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2022

GRRIP Workshop: ‘The Deep Waters of Communicating Marine & Maritime Research’

By Graham on July 4, 2022 in News Articles

Organized by GRRIP and delivered by Professor Alex Gerber (Rhine-Waal University) to internal consortium partners on Monday, June 20, this workshop provided an overview of how best to communicate sustainability issues researched within the Marine & Maritime sector.

Why is it that researchers and scientists still face public distrust in their work, even when supported by overwhelming evidence and widespread scientific consensus?

In the digital age, sceptics and bad-faith actors with access to communications platforms can easily sow the seeds of distrust that contribute to partisan views and continued rejections of the science. How do we as scientists and researchers navigate this terrain?

How can we overcome the disruptive efforts of sceptics and bad-faith actors and ensure that the science and its outcomes is clear, concise and easily understood by a wide swath of actors across the Quadruple Helix?
By focusing on and understanding the causes and effects of insufficient science and media literacy education we can begin to move beyond the existing / accepted understanding of information behavior and the many outdated approaches currently favored for solving these issues.

Rather than focusing on attempts to educate stakeholders with technical competencies in order to ‘absorb’ facts and overcome ‘ignorance’, we should instead adopt a more pro-active, evidence-based approach, one that seeks to both understand and anticipate these stakeholders’ motivations and the potential reasons they may have for rejecting certain information or policies.
Only then should tailored communication solutions be designed. Our understanding of what works (and why) in informal science education, has improved tremendously over the past two decades, allowing us to plan communication and social marketing initiatives with a greater chance to be effective and resource-efficient.

This workshop provided an overview of the state of the art, specifically in the context of communicating sustainability issues such as many of those researched and developed in the Marine & Maritime sector. Under discussion are the applicability of Responsible Research & Innovation frameworks to institutional settings in GRRIP to explore how ‘shared responsibilities’ can be managed in the Quadruple Helix environment.

Video: GRRIP Workshop – ‘Opening up Research and Innovation’ (Dr. Andrew Adams)

By Graham on March 29, 2022 in News Articles

This GRRIP organised workshop took place on Friday, March 25, 2022 and featured a presentation by Dr. Andrew Adams on the topic of ‘Opening up Research and Innovation’.

The session covered a number of RRI-related themes including:

  • Open data,
  • Open access,
  • Open science,
  • Open knowledge,
  • Open innovation.

In this session, Dr. Adams presented the philosophical and practical case for opening up research and innovation. He explains what ‘open’ means with regards to papers, data, science, innovation and knowledge and he outlines why researchers and innovators should care to make their work open.

The GRRIP Project was delighted to have Dr Adams agree to present. Dr Adams is eminently qualified to shed some light and share knowledge on the topic of open research and innovation. He is a multi-disciplinary researcher looking at social, legal, and ethical aspects of computer and communications technologies. His expertise is in Privacy and Data Protection, security, e-learning, copyright and freedom of speech. He has been a prominent open science activist for 20 years.

Swansea University publishes ‘The Future of Coastal Communities in Swansea and South Wales’ workshop report

Swansea University publishes ‘The Future of Coastal Communities in Swansea and South Wales’ workshop report

By Graham on February 23, 2022 in News Articles

Swansea University has published its report on its multi-stakeholder workshop ‘The Future of Coastal Communities in Swansea and South Wales’.

The workshop, which was held in September 2021, was supported by the EU Horizon 2020 project ‘Grounding Responsible Research and Innovation Practices’ (GRRIP) and the HEFCW funded RWIF Collaboration Booster program.

Swansea University is one of the five Research Performing Organisations and Research Funding Organisations that is currently participating in the GRRIP Project. This workshop supported Swansea University’s aim to co-create the direction of future research and innovation with marine and maritime communities.

During this workshop participants were invited to identify challenges faced by coastal communities and the marine environment, and to suggest new relevant research activities. Attendees included participants from industry and businesses, academia, civil society, policy makers and public authorities.

The format of this workshop was based on a multi-stakeholder workshop concept created by University College Cork (UCC) for the online event ‘Shaping the Future of Marine and Maritime Communities‘.

The results of this workshop improve SU Biosciences’ understanding of stakeholder views and interests and will contribute to future events and closer connection with communities. Insights will influence the direction of the research agenda.

Download the report HERE.

GRRIP makes key contribution to United Nations General Assembly Science Summit

GRRIP makes key contribution to United Nations General Assembly Science Summit

By Graham on October 8, 2021 in Press Release

The GRRIP Project (Grounding RRI Practices in Research Performing Organisations) was a key contributor at the recent Science Summit held as part of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA76).

The virtual summit, which takes place over the course of a month from Tuesday, September 14 to Thursday, September 30, seeks to raise awareness of the role and contribution of science to the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of the summit a session, held on Tuesday, September 28 and convened by UNESCO, explored ‘Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) for Sustainable Development’.

The session, according to organisers, would “build on the results from two key European Commission RRI projects: RRI Networked Globally (RRING) and Grounding RRI in Research Performing Organisations in Marine and Maritime (GRRIP) to extract lessons and discuss implicit policy instruments such as funding programs, tax incentives, RRI assessment and indicators as a pre-requisite for national calls participation, and explicit policy instruments including migration policies, work permits and statistics laws that need to be strengthened or redefined to support RRI structural change.”

Dr Ruth Callaway’s (FHEA Senior Research Scientist, Swansea University) presentation ‘Implementing RRI in a Public Research Organisation – Swansea University Experience’ detailed the integration of research with societal needs within the GRRIP Project.

Dr Malcom Fisk (Professor of Ageing and Digital Health PhD MA BSc FCIH FRSA Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility De Montfort University, Leicester UK) presented ‘Co-designing structural changes for a more Responsible Research and Innovation within GRRIP project’.

The session also featured contributions from Dr Gordon Dalton, GRRIP and RRING (RRI Networked Globally) project coordinator as well as Ms Juliana Chaves-Chaparro, UNESCO Senior Consultant and Mr Konstantinos Tararas, Programme Specialist, IRD Section, UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences.

The concept of RRI has been heavily promoted by the European Commission in recent years as it is seen as a more inclusive, ethical and open approach with the potential for producing increasingly diverse/engendered science and innovation with stronger governance.

The UNESCO Recommendation on Science and scientific researchers paves the way for RRI relevant aspects such as ethics , diversity and open science. Importantly, the monitoring system for this recommendation requests Member States to report every four years on its implementation and will include RRI related indicators and policy instruments.

Download: Press Release