Responsible research and innovation in the UK university: the politics of research governance

‘Responsible research and innovation’ (RRI) is a policy tool intended to shape scientific research as a means to achieve public value beyond economic growth. RRI calls for public involvement in the research process, and increased capacity for researchers to respond to public comments and concerns. However, universities offer little guidance on how to put the RRI framework into practice. Sarah Hartley and Warren Pearce outline aspects of RRI that are vital to understanding its future development. These include its various different meanings, the importance of researchers acknowledging their general responsibilities to society and the potential for the emergence of political issues

Responsible Research and Innovation: responding to the new research agenda

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is concerned with the nature and trajectory of research and innovation: what it can do for society and who gets to decide. RRI has been embedded in key funding institutions such as EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), and the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and in major funding calls from other organisations. As RRI has emerged, it has been addressed in an ad hoc manner by individual projects within The University of Nottingham, such as the Synthetic Biology Research Centre and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Chemistry. This report provides an overview of RRI, breaking down the concept into four dimensions, laying out approaches from key funders, strands of existing work at the University and recommendations for addressing the challenges which RRI presents. The report is one output of a research project using documentary analysis and interviews to investigate how RRI is being interpreted within a research-intensive, Russell Group university. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Schools of Biosciences, Chemistry and Sociology and Social Policy, funded by the University’s Bridging the Gaps initiative

European Novel Foods Policy at a critical juncture: drawing lessons for future Novel Food Governance through a retrospective examination of Regulation 258/97

This paper presents a timely analysis of the European Union (EU) Novel Foods Regulation EC 258/97, identifying trends in the policy process and the applications that have been made under the regulation. The ways that the Novel Foods Regulation has functioned to govern new foods placed on the European market is considered, and a number of important trends are described. A historical account of EU policy regarding novel foods is presented, including an analysis of the changes to Novel Foods Regulation and an analysis of data drawn from the European Commission’s own records of novel foods applications is conducted. The ways Novel Foods Regulation has functioned to govern new foods placed on the European market is revealed. A number of important trends in full applications are explored, along with substantial equivalence applications and unapproved foods that are placed on the market. This data is used to analyze the empirical legitimacy of the recent amendments to EU novel foods governance which will come into force in 2018, suggesting that change was needed, and supports the centralizing approach taken by the Commission. However, the analysis identifies potential risks and uncertainties in recent amendments to EU novel foods governance and considers the challenges of Brexit to the novel foods regime

Using mimics to teach about the diagnostic process

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154629/1/tct13039_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154629/2/tct13039.pd

Pain Perception after Isometric Exercise in Women with Fibromyalgia

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify exercise protocols incorporating isometric contractions that provide pain relief in women with fibromyalgia. Design: A before-after trial. Setting: A physical therapy department in an academic setting. Participants: Fifteen women (mean ± SD, 52 ± 11y) with fibromyalgia. Interventions: Subjects completed 4 sessions: 1 familiarization and 3 experimental. The following randomized experimental sessions involved the performance of isometric contractions with the elbow flexor muscles that varied in intensity and duration: (1) 3 maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs), (2) 25% MVC held to task failure, and (3) 25% MVC held for 2 minutes. Main Outcome Measures: Experimental pain (pain threshold and pain rating), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, and fibromyalgia pain intensity (visual analog scale). Results: After all 3 isometric contractions, there was considerable variability between subjects in the pain response. Based on the changes in experimental pain, subjects were divided into 3 groups (increase, decrease, no change in pain). Multiple regression analysis revealed that age, baseline experimental pain, and change in fibromyalgia pain intensity were significant predictors of the experimental pain response after the isometric contractions. Conclusions: We identified subgroups of women with fibromyalgia based on how they perceived pain after isometric contractions. The greatest pain relief for women with fibromyalgia occurred at a younger age and in women with the greatest experimental pain before exercise. Additionally, we established a link between experimental and clinical pain relief after the performance of isometric contractions

Report on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Workshop

The potential for an ongoing interdisciplinary conversation about RRI at the University of Nottingham (UoN) was identified during a research project conducted in summer 2014 to investigate how RRI is being interpreted within UoN (Pearce et al., 2014). On 8th January 2015, following a public lecture by Professor Richard Owen, University of Exeter, on ‘Responsible Research and Innovation: From nice words to meaningful action’, 18 participants from 11 schools and departments across UoN gathered to address the following workshop aims: 1. Establish an RRI network across UoN; 2. Share understandings of RRI from different perspectives and disciplines; 3. Explore what the RRI agenda means, how we might want to respond and what support might be needed. The Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Workshop was convened and facilitated by Dr Sarah Hartley (School of Biosciences) and Dr Warren Pearce (School of Sociology and Social Policy), with financial support from the Leverhulme Trust ‘Making Science Public’ programme and the Science,Technology and Society Priority Group

Transparency: issues are not that simple

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record

The Role of Maternal and Child Health in Decolonisation in Fiji 1945-1970

This thesis contributes to historical understanding of decolonisation in the British-colonised South Pacific through a detailed case study of the internationalisation of post-war public health. The role that health policy played in colonisation, both in the South Pacific and empire wide, is well understood, but its part in British decolonisation strategies is less known. Through analysing how Britain used maternal and child health policy to shape decolonisation in Fiji this thesis addresses this underexplored question. The negotiations surrounding health policy decisions reveal much about this process at a territorial, intra-colonial, inter-imperial, and international level. At a territorial and intra-colonial level, maternal and child health was entwined in colonial attempts to manage a charged ethno-political situation in Fiji in the run up to independence. At a regional and international level, the new Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO), attempted to disseminate universal rights and norms in health. Britain, and other imperial powers administrating Pacific Islands, perceived WPRO as a threat to their sovereignty over health and development. They established an inter-imperial organisation – the South Pacific Commission (SPC) – partly to demonstrate acquiescence with, but prevent interference by, UN agencies. The SPC and WPRO tried to build institutional prestige through efforts to establish themselves as authorities on maternal and child health. Using under-exploited sources this thesis uses the sub-case studies of maternal and infant nutrition, family planning/population control, and women’s health education, to discuss collaboration and contest between these actors. It demonstrates that conflict over decolonisation, as well as health, created barriers to policy innovation, which were only bridged by interventions by civil society organisations. It shows that colonial health policy shaped decolonisation in Fiji and international health in the region. It highlights the underappreciated role of civil society in colonial and international health

Knowing when to talk? Plant genome editing as a site for pre-engagement institutional reflexivity

This is the final version. Available on open access from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this recordCitizen and stakeholder engagement is frequently portrayed as vital for socially accountable science policy but there is a growing understanding of how institutional dynamics shape engagement exercises in ways that prevent them from realising their full potential. Limited attention has been devoted to developing the means to expose institutional features, allow policy-makers to reflect on how they will shape engagement and respond appropriately. Here, therefore, we develop and test a methodological framework to facilitate pre-engagement institutional reflexivity with one of the United Kingdom’s eminent science organisations as it grappled with a new, high-profile and politicised technology, genome editing. We show how this approach allowed policy-makers to reflect on their institutional position and enrich decision-making at a time when they faced pressure to legitimate decisions with engagement. Further descriptions of such pre-engagement institutional reflexivity are needed to better bridge theory and practice in the social studies of science.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC

The challenges of consulting the public on science policy: examining the development of European risk assessment policy for genetically modified animals

With the growing importance of public engagement in science policy-making and declining levels of public trust in food production, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has attempted to embed ‘good governance’ approaches to strengthen scientific independence and open-up risk decision-making, which include the use of public consultations. However ‘opening-up’ of risk assessment policies reveals some tensions, namely: balancing the goals of scientific excellence and transparency; protecting science from interests; addressing value judgments; limited opportunities to debate ethical and social issues. EFSA’s development of risk assessment policy for genetically modified animals is used as a case study to analyse these tensions. This analysis suggests that in order to fulfil good governance commitments and maintain trust in risk governance closer cooperation between EFSA and the European Commission is required to provide ‘space’ for debating the broader risk management issues. This publically-accessible space may be needed alongside rather than instead of EFSA’s consultation