Ta(l)king responsibility

In social science and policy circles there has been a lot of talk about Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). However, nobody quite knows yet what this means and how it works in the context of harsh economic realities. In the meantime, natural scientists have taken responsibility for their research and innovations in the context of …

From recombinant DNA to genome editing: A history of responsible innovation?

In this post I shall report on a recent call for ethical and regulatory reflection by scientists engaged in a new genomic technology. I’ll then put this into a historical context of previous initiatives of that kind, and finally ask whether this can be called ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’. CRISPR Recently, a new controversy has …

New report released on Responsible Research and Innovation

Today sees the launch of a new report on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). The report provides an overview of this emerging agenda, lays out approaches from key funders, and summarises RRI work already being carried out within University of Nottingham. The report also presents recommendations for the University’s future engagement with RRI, based on documentary analysis and …

Anticipation and prediction: A conceptual odyssey

A group of us at Making Science Public recently discussed Responsible Research and Innovation and Anticipatory Governance. During this conversation a colleague reminded us that anticipation is not the same as prediction (see also here). This made me think about the meanings of these words and in order to get to grips with them I …

Responsible research and innovation: challenges and opportunities for governance

We are delighted to announce a new project, funded by the University of Nottingham’s Bridging the Gaps programme, which will investigate the institution’s approach to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). RRI has emerged in recent years as a potential bridge between science and society that aims to increase the public value of science. The project …

3D printing: When science and technology take us by surprise

3D printing (or ‘additive’ or ‘digital manufacturing’) has been around for a while (and we’ll see for how long further on in this post); even 4D printing has been around for a while. However, 3D printing only really came into focus for me quite recently, when I came across the metaphors ‘3D printer of life’ …

Responsible innovation and close encounters of the third kind

Responsible (Research and) Innovation is gradually becoming a cornerstone of ‘making science (and technology)’ in Europe, intended to steer innovation to the ‘right’ impacts in an ethical and democratic way. When reading various chapters in a book on responsible innovation that has just been published by Richard Owen et al., I began to think that …