Ways Of Valorizing The Public Engagement In Responsible Research And Innovation

Abstract

In the last period, it was noticed a clear trend in the scientific research, which is oriented on the promotion of responsible research and innovation. Thus, we have identified a growing concern in many countries for: conducting research and innovation based on ethical principles, facilitating the public / open access to results of the research, developing connections between research, education and society etc. As such, the public commitment assumed by those research and innovation activities implies researchers who are concerned to promote their work and results to facilitate the understanding and internalizing of the produced results by the societal actors. In this respect, the paper intends to analyse the public perceptions regarding the ways of its engaging in responsible research and innovation activities. For reaching this purpose, it was designed a questionnaire with ten items, which was administered to a part of the participants in a major event - the European Researcher’s Night - organized in the last Friday of September, in 2016. The questions targeted to a number of issues such as: ways of public involvement in research, methods to enhance the attractiveness of scientific research to the general public, effectiveness of current methods in order to raise the public engagement in research activities.