Webinar: Responsible Research and Innovation: India and the World Today

Under the RRING Project, PRIA hosted a virtual workshop titled, “Responsible Research and Innovation: India and the World Today” on 17th June. The overarching aim of this workshop was to involve and encourage the India-based stakeholders; academicians, practitioners, policymakers, research performing and funding organisations and civil society organisations, to play an active role in the conversation on the social responsibility of science and innovation.

For the past year, the RRING Project had been involved in undertaking both qualitative and quantitative analysis to understand the state of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in different parts of the world. One such study was undertaken through the means of a global survey. Launched in October 2019, the survey consisted of a series of attitudinal and subjective questions. These aimed at capturing the general understanding of the concept of RRI along with the practices and policies present in different parts of the world.

Using the workshop as a platform to connect with a diverse set of stakeholders, PRIA and the RRING team aimed at sharing with the findings from this global survey. Dr Eric Jensen (Senior Research Fellow, ICoRSA) represented the RRING Team and shared with the participants the India specific findings. With 125 respondents from India (61 males and 40 females), he shared that an overall sentiment of agreement towards the underlying concepts of RRI was witnessed. There was an overarching belief that research should be designed and conducted in an inclusive and ethical manner and that the purpose of research and innovation lay in addressing the needs of the society.

While the agreement on the importance of principles of RRI depicted by the survey was seen as good news, many raised the point on how these, unfortunately, were rarely seen in practice. The gap between normative acceptance and the practice in everyday life is still existent in the country. On the bright side, this can be taken as space for improvement. There is a need to step up not only from the level of the government policies but also in the existent organisational frameworks- be it our selection criteria, our research methods or our tools- one can take the first step to become more responsible.

The resource persons for this webinar were:

• Dr. Eric Jensen (Senior Research Fellow, ICoRSA)
• Dr. Rajesh Tandon (Founder-President, PRIA; Co-Chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education)
• Dr. Shahid Jameel (CEO, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance