News

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, dialogue between science and society is more important than ever. This year’s EuroScience Open Forum, a hybrid of in-person and online events held 2-6 September, provided a key international platform to discuss and share experiences on issues such as communicating scientific uncertainty and maintaining public trust in science. The ORION Open Science partners contributed to three online sessions during the week discussing Open Science, RRI and genomic medicine. Did you miss the event? Some sessions are now available on YouTube.

Citizen science relies on active participation in the research process. But many projects have had to be put on hold due to Covid-19 restrictions affecting the involvement of participants. SMOVE – “Science that makes me move”, a project engaging school pupils to research the relationship between environmental influences and sedentary behaviour, has been rethinking its approach in light of constraints.

The RRING network, the NewHoRRIzon and the ORION Open Science project recently held an online interactive roundtable on 3 September as part of the Euroscience Open Forum, ESOF 2020 on "Joining forces for a global 21st century Responsible Research and Innovation Network". We are now inviting you to get involved and have your say!

Join us to discuss Open Science, RRI and genomic medicine during ESOF 2020 - EuroScience Open Forum on 3 and 4September. The theme for ESOF 2020 is: “Freedom for science, science for freedom". Due to Covid-19, this year's ESOF is also open for online participation.

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.

Do you enjoy science? Are you a young researcher based in the Czech Republic? Do you know how to write a good scientific article and engage your listeners? Do you want to become a successful scientist and would you like to learn more about Open Science? Join the ORION Open Science summer school in Brno on September 14 - 18, 2020

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.

Again and again, crises have led to a cultural change. Often an acute threat has turned into sustainable progress. Despite all the necessary provisional nature of current observations on the corona crisis, such a development seems to be emerging, especially in science and research. During the last months, the ways in which we conduct research, innovation and how we communicate science have changed so profoundly that it may well change the world forever. The ORION partner Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), has asked its scientists about their views on open science practices and possible changes due to the corona crisis.

If you think that building a sailing boat at a kindergarten in a small village of the South Moravian lowlands in Czech Republic is a nonsense, then you are wrong! It’s a part of the ORION partner JCMM’s EduSTEM (Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programme, which aims to inspire the future generation of researchers and innovators.