“[There are] three main dimensions of scientific openness: openness to publications and data, openness to society, and openness to excluded knowledge and epistemologies.” (Policy brief, Open Science Beyond Open Access) The final draft of the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation, which incorporates these expanded meanings of ‘open science’, has now been adopted by the Member States this month in Paris. Similar ideas are incorporated in the final draft of the 5th National Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Policy of the Government of India. The Science Social Responsibility (SSR) policy of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, already makes mentions the need for engaging with diverse stakeholders as a way to improve the impacts of science on society. Likewise, the UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers adopted in 2017 has particular value today, especially in the Global South, in recognising the role of science in promoting “common good”, and in emphasising the use of results of scientific research and development with a spirit of responsibility towards humankind and the environment. The pandemic of the past two years has brought into public debate the roles of science, scientists, and scientific research institutions. It has created a context where connections between science and society need to be placed on a new framework of openness and mutuality. Such UNESCO recommendations create a space for science and technology systems and institutions to change and become more “open”. New conversations among scientists, science communicators, scientific researchers, and civil society have begun to emerge about the need for a robust ecosystem of support to make science work with for and society. The experiences of the pandemic have also generated greater public discourse about the accountability of science to society. In many regions of the world, new ways of promoting public engagement with and for science have been practiced through an enabling policy framework. European Union’s focus on Responsible Research & Innovations (RRI) has integrated several such features. There is now growing recognition to synergise knowledge production and dissemination on such critical issues as the environment, health, and food systems being carried out on the ground by a host of civil society actors in the country. Community-based participatory research is now being carried out locally through partnerships of academics with local communities. In its work towards building a knowledge democracy, PRIA has argued that higher education is valued as a “public good”, to build ethical, anchoring, and facilitative civic commitment of higher education and research institutions within and in society. The pathway to knowledge democracy recognises that ideas, innovations, and methods generated in the academy contribute to building a sustainable future, and support social, economic, and institutional systems to change and respond to the needs of everyone so that ‘no one is left behind. Supporting young scientists and researchers in India to become aware of these responsibilities, irrespective of where they work, to have a holistic, up-to-date, and comprehensive understanding of contemporary global trends, policies and discourses in respect of science with and for society is an important aspect of this work. As PRIA completed 40 years, a digital conversation on “Young Scientists Learning Open Science” was convened on 25 November 2021 in partnership with UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, DST-Centre for Policy Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance to discuss the implications of the UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers, the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, Science with & for society, and the Government of India’s STI Policy, with special focus on:
Click here for the webinar recording