Attendance success at the 1st HEIRRI Conference about RRI education in university

The first conference of the European project HEIRRI (Higher Education Institutions and Responsible Research and Innovation), entitled “Teaching Responsible Research and Innovation at University”, has gathered on March 18th more than 150 people from all over the world to discuss about the integration of the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in university education. Professionals from the Research, Development and Innovation system, teaching staff from universities, members of the scientific community and academia, representatives from science centres and museums and scientific communication associations, as well as members from public institutions, the industry and civil society organizations, have actively participated in the conference to contribute to the ongoing dialogue.

The day has been structures with several transdisciplinary panels and practical workshops. There have been also two keynote lectures: to open the conference, Jacqueline Broerse (UV Athena Institute Amsterdam) has talked about the experience at her pioneer centre in this topic and about the challenges identified during the process to incorporate RRI in the university system. To close the day, John Goddard (Newcastle University) has presented the concept of Civic University and how it can contribute to a more democratic education.

The first HEIRRI Conference has improved the visibility of the project but most importantly it has made possible to hear the voice of all participants and use the rich debate generated too directly contribute to the project and improve its implementation. The shared experiences of people attending from more than 20 countries worldwide (12 from Europe) is priceless for the better development of the project.

The congress has been organized by “la Caixa” Foundation, of the members of the HEIRRI consortium. This European H2020 initiative is led by Pompeu Fabra University together with 8 more institutions: the aforementioned “la Caixa” Foundation, Bergen University, University of Aarhus, University of Split, the Institute for Advanced Studies of Vienna, the European network of science centres and museums Ecsite, the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) and the private company Innovatec. The whole HEIRRI group met on the day previous to the Conference in a Consortium meeting, on Thursday 17th of March, to hold the thirds Consortium meeting. Representatives of all the institutions gathered at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) to talk about the several ongoing working lines, such as the State of the Art review, the material design, communication and Forum Online participation and the internationalization of actions performed. The HEIRRI consortium is diverse and well-balanced, and from its very start all its members have been in a positive working tune with each other.

More information:

- Conference Programme

- Flickr album of Conference pictures

- Flickr album of consortium meeting pictures

- Blog of the HEIRRI project

- HEIRRI Twitter account for Forum Online