Public engagement

The Public Communication of Science and Technology, PCST, conferences take place every two years, bringing together practitioners, educators and researchers in the diverse and growing field of science communication. The Covid-19 pandemic and science engagement were unsurprisingly key themes addressed throughout this year's PCST conference in late May 2021. The ORION team participated in the VA Public & Science’s roundtable session on ‘Engaging the Public through Open Science – Putting theory into practice’ which showcased practical examples of methods and activities for engaging the public in the research process.

Welcome to the virtual final ORION Open Science Conference on 27-28 September to learn about and discuss achievements and lessons learned throughout the ORION project from 2017 to 2021. The conference is free of charge and open to anyone interested in Open Science and RRI practices, and its future national...

The registration for the ORION MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for Open Science in the Life Sciences has now opened. This brand new online course will help researchers to share their science with the world! Easily digestible modules will explore different aspects of Open Science and allow researchers in life sciences to gain a certificate in Open Science.

Save the date for the final conference of the ORION Open Science project on 27-28 September, where we will be sharing achievements and lessons gained throughout the project . The virtual final conference is free of charge and open to anyone interested in Open Science practices and discussing its future implications in a national and international context.

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 dangerous life of the couch potato: People who spend too long sitting are at higher risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. In the citizen science project SMOVE, the ORION partner MDC is joining forces with schoolchildren to research the relationship between environmental influences and sedentary behavior.

Dr. Emma Martinez-Sanchez, Public Engagement Project Officer for ORION Open Science at the Babraham Institute, brought the ORION project to the Engage Conference poster party and found inspiration elsewhere…

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.

September marked the official end of the ORION Open Science EU-project and the final conference was held on 27-28 September to wrap up all of the activities, insights and opinions from very fruitful 4,5 years. The aim of the ORION project has been to trigger institutional, cultural and behavioural changes in Research Funding and Performing Organisations (RFOs and RPOs) towards Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). The conference provided an opportunity to review ORION’s achievements and share key lessons and experiences to help others put open science into practice too.

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.