VA’s citizen science project, the Notice Board mass experiment, has won an Open Knowledge award for the Best Open Science Initiative. The Open Knowledge Awards have been launched by the non-profit organisation Open Knowledge Sweden and were awarded for the first time in a ceremony at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm on 2 December.
Each year, the Engage conference in the UK brings together delegates interested in public engagement in Higher Education institutions. The 2016 conference theme was ‘inspiring innovation’. VA (Public & Science) contributed to the programme with a workshop on RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation), together with University College London (UCL).
Anita Pettersson, whose job at the University of Borås involves researching how phosphorus can be recycled, has won the 2016 Swedish Researcher’s Grand Prix and the title of Sweden’s best science communicator. Anita’s presentation captivated both the audience and the expert jury at the final in Stockholm.
Mistra Urban Futures, the Swedish centre for sustainable urban development, has won the first European Foundations Award for Responsible Research and Innovation (EFARRI). The Award recognises research projects that have successfully incorporated RRI practices that align research with the needs of society and actively contribute towards the development of a smart, inclusive and sustainable society.
The new version of the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Toolkit www.rri-tools.eu has now been released, supported by a community of more than 800 individuals and institutions from all over Europe. This open online platform was launched by the European RRI Tools project to help research and innovation actors across Europe work in a more social, ethical, and sustainable way, a requisite in many European funding calls.
Open science, what it means in practice and how it can be embraced in Sweden was the theme of VA (Public & Science)’s annual conference held on 12 October in Stockholm. The conference attracted over 200 delegates interested in finding out more about open science and the opportunities that it offers.
Leon, Yonis, Diana and their classmates file into the room. They take a seat on the chairs that have been neatly lined up in front of the screen for them. I welcome them with a smile, but I can’t help wondering what they’re thinking. Are they looking forward to our meeting, or are they impatiently waiting for the next hour to pass so they can move on to their much more important weekend plans? Surely, they must be excited about this unconventional school day and curious to hear what I have to tell them… Right?
The results of an open public online consultation run by the European Commission to collect input and opinions of SwafS stakeholders across Europe have now been published.