Mapping and understanding Responsible Research and Innovation
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Mapping and understanding Responsible Research and Innovation; Barbara E. Ribeiro, Robert D. J. Smith and Kate Millar; Centre for Applied Bioethics, University of Nottingham, UK.
As a concept and project, responsible research and innovation (RRI) is being embedded in research policy across Europe but is still currently open to experimentation. This paperexplores some of the important dimensions of RRI that remain opaque and disputed amongst researchers and practitioners. We reinterpret Owen et al's (2012) ‘dimensions of ambiguity’ (motivations, theoretical conceptualisations and translations into practice) as a point of departure to analyse a diverse body of literature on approaches to RRI. A total of 48 papers were selected through a systematic literature search followed by a content analysis. Our results suggest that RRI is a fundamentally integrative concept, embedding elements of existing approaches to the governance and assessment of emerging technologies. At its core rests scholarship from within STS that attempts to examine how science, technology and society mutually shape each other. In consonance with this scholarly background, RRI tries to do a lot; encouraging anticipation of future consequences of emerging technologies; reflecting on their societal and ethical aspects; as well as highlighting a need to recognise the embedded narratives, interests and values of different actors in technoscientific arenas. However, the concept is also a point at which STS is articulating with other disciplines and practices. We argue that, as with any collaboration, making the conceptual and practical assumptions, and the commitments that go with them, explicit will be key to the future of RRI as it co-evolves with academic and political agendas.
Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación
Edificio 8E, Acceso J, Planta 4ª (Sala Descubre. Cubo Rojo)
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia | Camino de Vera s/n
Dr Barbara Ribeiro holds a BSc in Biology (Federal University of Minas Gerais, UFMG, Brazil) and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies (University of Salamanca, Spain). Her main research interests include societal aspects of emerging technologies, transdisciplinarity and responsible research and innovation. She is especially keen to collaborate on projects that cut across the natural and social sciences and that are open to innovative approaches to the study of the interaction between science, society and policy making.