Raising Awareness of Researchers-in-the-Making Toward Responsible Research and Innovation

Abstract

Across the globe, research, development, and innovation (RDI) processes are operating at increasingly accelerated paces, promising rapid development and higher standards of living, but also increasing the likelihood of unintended, socially undesirable effects that inevitably attend progress. The notion of responsible research and innovation (RRI) has emerged in response to this dilemma, and the integration of RRI into daily RDI practices itself represents a considerable challenge. Integrating RRI concepts and practices at an early or even pre-career stage, before researchers fully develop their daily routines, could strengthen the assimilation of RRI into RDI more generally. Thus, in line with the emphasis of RRI on science education, how to integrate RRI aspects in the thinking of researchers-in-the-making before they start their active research carrier is an important but under-investigated question. In addition, the special features of Generation Z currently being in higher education suggest the use nontraditional tools in science education. Accordingly, this exploratory study asks how the RRI-awareness of researchersin-the-making can be raised. We adapt the Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) method, which facilitates reflection on societal aspects during scientific research practices and decisions, to the context of science education. We test the introduction of STIR among researchers-in-the-making studying natural sciences at the University of Szeged (Hungary). Our findings suggest potential steps for science education on RRI with attention to the special needs Generation Z and facilitating their RRI awareness for their active researcher career.

Regionális sajátosságok a felelősségteljes kutatás és innováció gyakorlatában : posztszocialista innovációs környezet hatásának vizsgálata hét Közép-Kelet Európai országban

“…Az RRI gyakorlati alkalmazására számtalan ígéretes módszer született az elmúlt években (Felt, Fochler, Sigl 2018;Fisher, Mahajan, Mitcham 2006;Pavie, Carthy 2015;Tyl et al 2011;Yaghmaei, Van De Poel 2021). Azonban ezek többsége nem jutott el a gyakorlati tesztelés fázisába, vagy ha igen, akkor a vizsgálatuk nagyon rövid időszakra nyúlik vissza, így nem állnak rendelkezésre hosszú távú eredmények (Lukovics et al 2019;. A módszerek közül kiemelkedik a Társadalmi-Technikai Integrációs Kutatás (Socio-Technical Integration Research: STIR), amelyet számos fejlett nyugati országban teszteltek.…”

Socio-Technical Learning: Contextualizing Undergraduate Externships to Bridge the Digital Divide

“…Two case studies were particularly informative of the current research study. Lukovics et al (2019), tested an adaption of STIR with students of natural science at the University of Szeged, Hungary. The focus of the study was to facilitate responsible research and innovation awareness in Generation Z students.…”

“…The focus of the study was to facilitate responsible research and innovation awareness in Generation Z students. Instead of one-on-one STIR dialogs with experts about their daily activities, the researchers conducted weekly STIR focus group discussions with seven undergraduate students about 'what-if' scenarios based on historical examples (Lukovics et al, 2019). Each week, one student delivered a short presentation about a historical example and its associated responsible research and innovation (RRI) issues, after which the focus group engaged in a facilitated STIR dialog.…”

“…This research also contributed new knowledge to the STIR application portfolio, in the form of a case study that explores a new target audience, their innovation and learning processes, and the setting in which they innovate. In contrast to prior studies that explored use of Responsible Innovation principles in educational settings to train pre-service teachers (Richter et al, 2019) and STIR focus group discussions with undergraduate students about `what-if' scenarios (Lukovics et al, 2019), this study adjusted the STIR protocol to engage with STEM students at 2-year colleges while they actively participated in work-based experience projects in an open lab-like environment. The study found that socio-technical learning happens one step at a time, as the externs successively built on existing skills and acquired new ones, even when they began at different levels of learning.…”

Digging Deeper into Precision/Personalized Medicine: Cracking the Sugar Code, the Third Alphabet of Life, and Sociomateriality of the Cell

“…More recent applications of STIR have explored its effectiveness in diverse organizational and institutional settings, including energy innovation in contrasting United States urban environments Richter et al, 2017); the Dutch construction industry (Flipse and van de Loo, 2018); nuclear radiation research in Belgium, Spain, andEstonia (van Oudheusden et al, 2018, 2019); and various post-Soviet Hungarian laboratory and science educational settings Lukovics et al, , 2019. Currently, ongoing STIR studies are being conducted in medical laboratories in Mexico and France.…”