VA was one of the organisations especially invited to a hearing organised by the Committee on Education in the Swedish Parliament in March 2016. The purpose was for the MP’s to get input for the upcoming research bill which the Swedish Government is expected to present to the parliament in October. VA’s Secretary General Cissi Askwall presented the organisation’s suggestions for how best to promote and strengthen science-society interaction in Sweden. The suggestions have also been sent to the Ministry of Education and Research.
Despite the Swedish public being aware of the extensive media coverage about the researcher Paolo Macchiarini, trust in researchers remains high, according to a new survey conducted by the Swedish non-profit association Vetenskap & Allmänhet, VA (Public & Science).
Every four years the Swedish government undertakes a wide consultation on policy needs to inform the Research Bill. Here is a summary of VA’s input to the consultation outlining its views on research and innovation that was submitted to the Ministry of Education and Research on 2 November 2015.
In order to solve the major societal challenges, there must be collaboration between researchers, civil society, industry, the public sector and the public during the whole of the research and innovation process. The concept of Responsible Research and Innovation, RRI, was launched by the European Commission as a key element of the Horizon 2020 research programme. But what does it mean in practice, and how do we achieve it in Sweden?
In order to solve the major societal challenges that we face, researchers, civil society, industry, the public sector and the public must work together. This type of cooperation is the foundation of Responsible Research and Innovation, RRI – a key concept in the EU’s research programme Horizon 2020. A web-based toolkit is now available to help stakeholders implement RRI.
VA’s Director of Research, Maria Lindholm, has been elected Chair of the European Commission’s Advisory Group for the Science with and for Society programme, SwafS in 2016-17. The EC’s Advisory Groups represent a broad constituency of stakeholders and are consultative entities with the task of giving strategic and consolidated advice to the Commission services during the preparation of the Horizon 2020 work programmes.
The Swedish public’s trust in researchers at universities is rising. 84 percent say that they have fairly or very high trust, compared with 74 percent in the previous year. Nine out of ten Swedes believe it is important for the public to be involved in research and more than half would like personally to get involved, particularly in health research. These are some of the findings from the annual VA Barometer conducted by Swedish non-profit organisation VA (Public & Science).
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