Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Conference, Basque Country, March 10-11, 2016

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI):

The Problematic Quest for “Right” Impacts

Miguel Sanchez-Mazas Chair at University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) at Arizona State University are delighted to announce the Conference on RRI: The Problematic Quest for “Right” Impacts. 

The conference will be in Donostia-San Sebastian (Basque Country), March 10-11, 2016. 

Call for Papers

We invite the submission of contributed papers from researchers working in any topic related to the aims of the conference (see abstract below). Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be emailed to rri2016@gmail.com by January 10, 2016. Abstracts must be prepared for blind review.  Author details are to be included on a separate cover sheet. The intended allocated time for presentations is 20 minutes (plus 10 minutes discussion time). 

We encourage especially submissions from women researchers and junior scholars. 

Deadline for submissions: January 10, 2016

Notification of acceptance: January 25, 2016

Registration deadline: February 28, 2016

Abstract

The European Commission claims that research and engineering activities under the next R & D Framework Programme, “Horizon 2020” (2014-2020), will be conducted according to a “Responsible Research and Innovation” (RRI) framework, meaning that “societal actors 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 European society” (EC, 2012, p. ii). RRI can be understood thus as an effort to justify innovation not on grounds of uncritical or taken for granted macro-economic assumptions, but on the basis of societally-beneficial objectives, or challenges, as openly defined and debated by a plurality of societal actors. As such, RRI-based EU policy aims to introduce “broader foresight and impact assessments for new technologies, beyond their anticipated market-place benefits and risks” (von Schomberg 2013, p. 51).

Explicitly characterized as a “challenge-based approach”, Horizon 2020 claims therefore to be prepared and oriented to address “major concerns shared by citizens in Europe and elsewhere”, including human and environmental health, sustainability, energy efficiency, climate action, inclusiveness, security, and freedom. However, are these generic challenges self-evident? How are they constituted and by whom? Can those challenges be challenged? How are they operationalized? On what normative bases? These and other similar questions express a legitimate concern for the main dynamics, assumptions and priorities by which normative frameworks are constituted and institutionalized in RRI-based EU research policy. This conference aims to interrogate the heterogeneous and contingent socio-technical processes that guide, enable and also constrain RRI’s quest for the “right” impacts.

For more information, please see the attached flyer. There is no registration fee to participate in the conference, but registration is required. To register, please send your name/surname, contact details and affiliation by email to CRRI2016@gmail.com no later than February 28, 2016.

For further details or queries, please contact the conference organizers:

Andoni Eizagirre (aeizagirre@mondragon.edu) or 

Hannot Rodriguez (hannot.rodriguez@ehu.eus)