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