The aim of Orion is to explore ways in which research and funding organizations in life sciences and biomedicine can open up the way they fund, organise and do research. In order to do so we also need look at the citizens' perspective. Would they like to be involved in research activities and if so, in what way are they most willing to be engaged?
Through the telephone interviews, we are also gathering citizens’ perceptions of genome editing. What are the risks and opportunities of technologies such as genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9?
For science to be truly open, responsible and responsive to societal needs, multiple stakeholders must be engaged at all points of the research lifecycle; from the conception of a novel research project, through to funding selection and resourcing, to dissemination of research findings and use of those findings within society, which in turn informs future funding calls.
The results of this study will be published during Spring 2018 and will help us to design future open science training, processes and public dialogues.
For more information about the on-going study, please get in contact with Maria Lindholm at Public & Science.