Supporting new Science Shops: Report describing the implementation phase of the local Public Engagement with Research action plans, mentoring and advisory activities, and Summer Schools

Science Shops are units that perform or broker research with and for Civil Society Organisations, in a demand driven way. They are often, but now always, based at universities. This allows them to use students to do the research under faculty supervision. Thus, the research is part of the core-business of the university (research driven learning and teaching), and the public engagement is added-in to these activities, and not added-on. This makes Science Shops an affordable tool for science-society engagement and co-creation of new knowledge. Stand-alone Science Shops use per project funding to achieve the same objectives. In the period 2010-2014, the PERARES-project intensively supported new Science Shop initiatives in ten different regions, through mentoring. PERARES also supported various other initiatives through annual Summer Schools, incidental lectures, and on-line resources. To start a new Science Shop, the following approach was taken: 1. A staff member is appointed to do a feasibility study and make a business plan,dealing with following elements and strengths/weaknesses of various options: a. The potential demand (topics, numbers) for research from CSOs. b. The potential resource of student-researchers (disciplines, levels, numbers) c. Options for organisational placement of the Science Shop, staffing, work- flows and responsibilities d. Potential sources for continued funding 2. An advisory board (including both research and CSO representatives) is set up 3. A temporary structure is set up to solicit and respond to research questions 4. Pilot projects are done Based on all the above experiences, which were scheduled for the first half of the project, in the second half, a final structure was proposed, publicity made and funding for that was sought, while (pilot) projects continued. The approach led to the following results: The European University Cyprus now has its Science Shop, integrated in university. The Institute of Baltic Studies, a (non-university) NGO research organisation has done projects co-operation with various universities through its Science Shop called ‘Teadusturg’ and now starts co-operation with Tartu university for continuity. In France, the association ADReCA has its Echop’a Sciences established, though working with university structures in Grenoble is still tough. Also in France, Université de Lyon has established its Boutique des Sciences, with a 3-year funding secured from a national program. The Technical University of Crete (Greece) has established its own Science Shop, Epilyon. In Ireland, the Dublin Institute of Technology has extended its project “Students Learning with Communities” to include Science Shop projects. In Israel, the Heschel Centre, an NGO, catalysed networking among universities and other stakeholders. In Italy, the University of Sardegna has established its Science Shop as an association called “IntHum”. In Norway, the University of Stavanger has established its Science Shop, the Forskningstorget, which works with two of its schools now The University of Cambridge (UK) has further established its Science Shop, the Community Knowledge Exchange. The 5 Summer Schools that were organized attracted about 130 participants from approximately 25 countries. Mentors in Hungary and Romania supported new Science Shops actively, and quite a number of other presentations and workshops, and publications were made. We conclude that: By doing research projects with and for civil society in the curriculum - through Science Shops and similar intermediaries - many universities throughout Europe can advance public engagement in an affordable and mutually beneficial way. Supporting these universities with seed funding and mentoring/training by European experts is an efficient tool to set-up new Science Shops. Setting-up Science Shops without the active co-operation of universities is quite complicated. The Summer Schools are a good way to reach out to more interested actors