Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 7;8(3):e11745.
doi: 10.2196/11745.

Structural Transformation to Attain Responsible BIOSciences (STARBIOS2): Protocol for a Horizon 2020 Funded European Multicenter Project to Promote Responsible Research and Innovation

Vittorio Colizzi  1 , Daniele Mezzana  1 , Pavel V Ovseiko  2 , Giovanni Caiati  3 , Claudia Colonnello  3 , Andrea Declich  1 , Alastair M Buchan  2 , Laurel Edmunds  2 , Elena Buzan  4 , Luiz Zerbini  5 , Dimitar Djilianov  6 , Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt  7 , Krzysztof P Bielawski  8 , Doris Elster  9 , Maria Salvato  10 , Luiz C Jr Alcantara  11 , Antonella Minutolo  1 , Marina Potestà  1 , Elena Bachiddu  12 , Maria J Milano  2 , Lorna R Henderson  13 , Vasiliki Kiparoglou  13 , Phoebe Friesen  14 , Mark Sheehan  14 , Daniela Moyankova  6 , Krasimir Rusanov  6 , Martha Wium  5 , Izabela Raszczyk  8 , Igor Konieczny  8 , Jerzy P Gwizdala  15 , Karol Śledzik  15 , Tanja Barendziak  9 , Julia Birkholz  9 , Nicklas Müller  9 , Jürgen Warrelmann  9 , Ute Meyer  9 , Juliane Filser  9 , Fernanda Khouri Barreto  11 , Carla Montesano  1
Affiliations

Structural Transformation to Attain Responsible BIOSciences (STARBIOS2): Protocol for a Horizon 2020 Funded European Multicenter Project to Promote Responsible Research and Innovation

Vittorio Colizzi et al. JMIR Res Protoc. .

Abstract

Background: Promoting Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a major strategy of the "Science with and for Society" work program of the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. RRI aims to achieve a better alignment of research and innovation with the values, needs, and expectations of society. The RRI strategy includes the "keys" of public engagement, open access, gender, ethics, and science education. The Structural Transformation to Attain Responsible BIOSciences (STARBIOS2) project promotes RRI in 6 European research institutions and universities from Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Poland, and the United Kingdom, in partnership with a further 6 institutions from Brazil, Denmark, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States.

Objective: The project aims to attain RRI structural change in 6 European institutions by implementing action plans (APs) and developing APs for 3 non-European institutions active in the field of biosciences; use the implementation of APs as a learning process with a view to developing a set of guidelines on the implementation of RRI; and develop a sustainable model for RRI in biosciences.

Methods: The project comprises interrelated research and implementation designed to achieve the aforementioned specific objectives. The project is organized into 6 core work packages and 5 supporting work packages. The core work packages deal with the implementation of institutional APs in 6 European institutions based on the structural change activation model. The supporting work packages include technical assistance, learning process on RRI-oriented structural change, monitoring and assessment, communication and dissemination, and project management.

Results: The project is funded by Horizon 2020 and will run for 4 years (May 2016-April 2020). As of June 2018, the initial phase has been completed. The participating institutions have developed and approved APs and commenced their implementation. An observation tool has been launched by the Technical Assistance Team to collect information from the implementation of APs; the Evaluation & Assessment team has started monitoring the advancement of the project. As part of the communication and dissemination strategy, a project website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account have been launched and are updated periodically. The International Scientific Advisory Committee has been formed to advise on the reporting and dissemination of the project's results.

Conclusions: In the short term, we anticipate that the project will have a considerable impact on the organizational processes and structures, improving the RRI uptake in the participating institutions. In the medium term, we expect to make RRI-oriented organizational change scalable across Europe by developing guidelines on RRI implementation and an RRI model in biosciences. In the long term, we expect that the project would help increase the ability of research institutions to make discoveries and innovations in better alignment with societal needs and values.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/11745.

Keywords: Horizon 2020; action plans; ethics; gender; guidelines; institutional change; model for RRI in biosciences; open access; patient involvement; public engagement; responsible research and innovation; science education; science with and for Society; structural change.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Five keys of Responsible Research and Innovation as depicted in the Structural Transformation to Attain Responsible BIOSciences logo.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A structural change activation model adapted from the European Commission-funded project STAGES.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The project organization and management. RRI: Responsible Research and Innovation; UNITOV: University of Rome Tor Vergata; UOXF: University of Oxford; UP: University of Primorska; Uni-HB: University of Bremen; ABI: Agrobioinstitute; UG: University of Gdańsk; UK: United Kingdom; WP: work package.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. European Commission. Brussels: European Union; 2014. [2018-11-23]. Responsible Research and Innovation: Europe's ability to respond to societal challenges https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_rri/KI0214595ENC.pdf .
    1. European Commission. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union; 2013. [2018-11-23]. EUR 25766 - Options for Strengthening Responsible Research and Innovation https://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/op... .
    1. Bijker WE, d'Andrea L. Handbook on the Socialisation of Scientific and Technological Research: A tool for promoting science and technology socialisation policies addressed to policy makers, research and innovation actors and stakeholders. Rome: Social Science and European Research Capacities (SS-ERC) Project; 2009. [2018-06-22]. http://www.scienzecittadinanza.org/Public/SSERChandbook.pdf .
    1. Mezzana D. Scienzecittadinanza. 2011. [2018-06-22]. Technological responsibility: Guidelines for a shared governance of the processes of socialisation of scientific research innovation, within an interconnected world http://www.scienzecittadinanza.org/public/SetDevGuidelines.pdf .
    1. GREAT. 2013. [2018-06-22]. Annual report on the main trends of SiS, in particular the trends related to RRI http://www.great-project.eu/deliverables_files/deliverables05 .