The ORION project aims to induce evidence-based institutional and cultural changes within the research community, including scientists, funders and other key stakeholders. Our long term vision is to embed Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles (ethics, gender, governance, open access, public engagement, and science education) in Research Funding and Performing Organisations (RFPOs).
This will be achieved by initially carrying out an assessment exercise on Open Science awareness and practice in RFPOs and organising an open consultation among targeted stakeholders. We will then co-design and perform “co-creation experiments” with the different RRI actors.
Our experiments will tackle three specific challenges of Open Science:
1. Opening up the research engine
2. Identifying risks and opportunities presented by disruptive technologies
3. Running citizen science (CS) in fundamental research
By designing and implementing the experiments together with different stakeholders, we will apply the RRI principles to reflect on the scientific process and governance, and produce prototypes for current and future societal challenges. We will use these challenges as case studies to try out different co-design/co-creation methods with multiple stakeholders, and unusual blends, e.g. funders and citizens, or researchers, industry and citizens. We will identify drivers and barriers, interests and values, and in some cases produce “prototypes”, in the format of new projects, new research and funding frameworks, and perhaps even products.
We will also generate new training programmes and modules, targeting young researchers as well as established scientists and professionals working in funding agencies, to raise knowledge about Open Science and RRI principles and practices, therefore enriching the current collections (e.g. RRI-Tools and FOSTER training platforms).

Publications