Rethinking ethics and citizen participation in research and innovation
The goal of research funding organisations (RFOs) is to support research and innovation processes to address complex societal needs. To do this effectively, they are increasingly seeking the input of non-traditional stakeholders such as everyday citizens, people affected by relevant issues, NGOs and social entrepreneurs, among others. “While this inclusion can be vital to creating more relevant and effective processes of research and innovation, the ways citizens and other non-scientific stakeholders are included and the extent to which ethical issues are taken into account are not formalised and differ widely across countries and organisations,” says Stefanie Schuerz, a researcher at Austria’s Centre for Social Innovation. By means of the EU-funded PRO-Ethics project, Schuerz led an effort to help fill this gap in scientific practice. “Our goal was to tackle the ethical issues that arise when non-traditional stakeholders participate in research and innovation and, in particular, in the activities of research funding organisations,” she adds.
A testing ground for new approaches to stakeholder participation
To achieve this goal, the project implemented 11 participatory pilots at various research funding agencies. These pilots, which involved a variety of stakeholder groups and employed a diverse set of formats, served as a testing ground for new approaches to stakeholder participation. The pilots were divided into two phases. In Pilot Phase I, the existing participative programmes and processes of the four involved RFOs were analysed based on a common set of questions. “With the help of analytical partners, the involved RFOs reflected on and gathered learnings from these first experiments, which fed into a training to prepare and implement new pilots during Pilot Phase II,” explains Schuerz. Through this iterative methodology, PRO-Ethics was able to create guidelines and assessment tools that were close to the experiences of research funders, and able to achieve quantifiable results.
A framework on ethics in research
The pilots provided project researchers with valuable information to produce the Ethics Framework and Guidelines for Participatory Processes in the Activities of Research Funding Organisations, one of the main outcomes of the project. Ethics committees and research integrity bodies were actively engaged via interviews and workshops to collect ideas and needs where PRO-Ethics could make a novel contribution. The Framework supports the ethical preparation, implementation and evaluation of participatory processes in research funding. Specifically, it addresses different contexts, resources and needs that impact how participatory processes can be conducted in an ethical manner, and provides guidance to ensure stakeholder participation takes into account values such as fairness, transparency, equality and privacy. “With the Ethics Framework and Guidelines, PRO-Ethics filled an important gap and took a first step in a long path towards rethinking ethics and participation in research and innovation,” remarks Schuerz.
A foundation for more open science
Work continues to ensure funding organisations fully leverage the Ethics Framework and Guidelines, and to expand the project’s research through such Horizon Europe-funded projects as CHANGER, ECS, IMPETUS and CitiObs. “We developed an array of materials to share the rich experience made in our pilot projects and built vast networks that will benefit from our work,” concludes Schuerz. “In doing so, we have laid a solid foundation for ethically involving non-traditional stakeholders in research that others can build on.”
Keywords
PRO-Ethics, ethics, research and innovation, scientific research, research funding organisations, citizens, participation, fairness, transparency, stakeholder participation
