The concept of RRI emerged in the European Union’s Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development and has been defined as follows:

It implies that societal actors (researchers, citizens, policy makers, business, third sector organisations, etc.) work together during the whole research and innovation process in order to better align both the process and its outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of society. It could be understood as a broad umbrella connecting different aspects of the relationship between R&I and society: public engagement, open science, diversity, science education, ethics, and governance.

This RRI Movie by RRI Tools describes the idea well also includes a broad RRI-toolbox. Another excellent and clear explanation and descriptions of all the aspects of RRI are collected at ERA-LEARN website.

How can you include RRI in your project proposal?

RRI should be integrated as part of the project involving all project participants. In spite of the fact that RRI may focus on broadly recognised issues the approach has to be specific to the project.

To achieve this objective, it´s important to develop a shared understanding of the project’s RRI aspects as early as possible. This will involve having conversations about their importance, action that is agreed upon, and what learning and adoption can occur throughout the project. 

RRI in the project needs to be coordinated, however, how this RRI content is adopted (e.g. who will be responsible for what work) in the proposal depends on the project:  RRI can be organised a cross-cutting part of the project or a separate work package.

Please be aware that these guidelines and reflections neither represent the only RRI approach nor a complete list of examples of measures when implementing RRI in NEURON proposals. 

As stated in the NEURON ERA-NET call texts expert lay reviewers will review the patient relevant aspects of the full-proposals and an Ethics board will give recommendations on the ethical aspects of the full-proposals.

Examples of different RRI perspectives applicable for NEURON research projects and available tools

Diversity dimension 

Diversityis a key component of excellence in order to ensure that talented scientists are not excluded from opportunities in sciences because of factors and personal choices like sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion or culture.

In particular, gender equality could be defined situation where individuals are free to develop their abilities and make choices without the limitations imposed by gender role.

Gender-sensitive research takes a twin approach:

• Providing equal opportunities for all, because to keep up the excellence within a workforce, we need the skills of both men and women.
• Integrating gender into the research content, from the initial research idea to the dissemination of results. In spite of the fact that these variables are not always systematically considered, quality and scalability of biomedical research depends on considerations of key biological variables such as sex, especially in preclinical research. In addition, gender has been shown to critically affect behaviours, such as consumption habits and adoption or rejection.

Therefore, consideration of gender is a priority in the European Research Area and entails fostering balance in research teams and integrating the gender dimension in R&I content. In fact, in 2022, the gender equality plans will be mandatory for public bodies, research organisations and higher education establishments, from EU Member States and Associated Countries and will be considered as an eligibility criterion for proposals of those entities. Some tools that can be used to ensure diversity and gender balance in R&I teams, embed gender equality in research proposals and integrate the gender dimension in R&I content are:

Governance

In order to ensure that you have the structures within your organisation to make R&I processes responsive to society and responsible in practice and to align the procedures according to RRI principles it´s important to establish governance structures that value and enable the principles of RRI. In other words, to make RRI in a well-assessed and structured way. Some key issues to create structures for implementing RRI are the following: