Doctors & Patients

Are you an Open Science advocate or enthusiast? Do you want to help others practice Open Science? The ORION Open Science Train-the-Trainer is an online course which enables its participants to deliver Open Science training in a variety of contexts. Through online seminars, meet-ups, videos, group work and more, the participants acquire skills in the theory and methods of Open Science training.

In order to engage the public in science and design effective citizen science projects, it is important to understand the main motivations that drive individuals to engage in research. A pan-European study by the EU ORION Open Science project has revealed gender and age differences when it comes to the reasons that motivate members of the public to get involved in life sciences research.

The winners of the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Health Awards, organized by the ORION partner Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) has been announced. Three winning proposals from three different Spanish Health Research Institutes (IIS) have been awarded 10,000 euros each in this first edition of the RRI Health Awards, out of a total of 26 proposals received. The winning projects were Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona, the Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba and the Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital Health Research Institute in Madrid, focus on citizen participation, science education and ethics, respectively. The call was open to Spanish Health Research Institutes that have developed significant institutional RRI activities during 2019.

How can you establish cultural change? How do you implement and embed Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in your organisation? These are the questions that the ORION project aims to answer. From the start of the project in 2017, ORION has been exploring how to establish an open dialogue with society on relevant research topics, such as genome editing, and has been developing new ways and collaborations between researchers and the general public. Co-creation is at heart of the ORION project.

The ORION MOOC for Open Science in the Life Sciences is now open to follow at anytime. The course is open for anyone interested in Open Science and consists of six modules covering different aspects of Open Science. Take the chance to become the next Orion Open Science Champion!

The ORION research funding partner in Spain, the Carlos III Health Institute (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), launched last January an award for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Health Research. The award - #RRIhealthawards, seeks to recognise, support, promote and disseminate the work of ISCIII funded Health Research Institutes to incorporate the principles of RRI in their activities and projects. The call was open to Spanish Health Research Institutes that have developed significant institutional RRI activities during 2019.

We are very saddened by the news that Professor Michael Wakelam, Director of Babraham Institute, has passed away. His loss is tragic for the research community and he will be deeply missed by the entire ORION Open Science EU-project team.

What does the public think about the new genome editing technology CRISPR and how should we talk about it? The ORION project has organised public dialogues in the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden and the UK to find out. The aim with the public dialogues was to discuss the risks and opportunities of this disruptive technology and identify any concerns the public might have.

On 9 March the final ORION Open Science roundtable was organised by the ORION partner JCMM in Brno, Czech Republic. This was the final leg in the JCMM co-creation scheme which was launched in June 2018 debating the Open Science framework with representatives from academia, local government, business, NGOs, students and the general public.

The MELTIC project “Ideas MELting pot for TIC and Health Science for Citzens in Small communities” coordinated by the ORION partner Carlos III National Health Institute, ISCIII , is the winner of the ORION call for Novel Co-creation Initiatives after competing against eleven other European project proposals. The project will improve the quality of life for EU citizens in small communities by co-creating and developing ICT health services with stakeholders.