A case based upon ethnographic observation, document analysis, and interviews to explore the experiences that civil society organisations (CSOs) have with research funding calls.
Research Funding Organisations often launch calls for the broader inclusion of CSOs within the R&I system to interlink science and society more closely. The RRI concept of Public Engagement with science is the focal point, where the assumption is that CSOs represent, to some extent, relevant „publics’ within science-society relationships. The case was carried out in The Netherlands, focusing on relatively small organisations that work on issues of sustainability, climate change, and climate justice. The results paint a complicated and tense relationship between the selected CSOs and the research and innovation system. The impediments of CSO’s to participate are:
- CSOs can articulate concrete and realistic research questions which could generate useful collaborative opportunities for these organisations, but there is still considerable distance between CSOs and the R&I system.
- Resource constraints as a barrier of participation manifesting themselves as a lack of financial resources, and specific knowledge on how to write proposals for a higher likelihood of success.
- The accountability burden and its constraints on mission related activities.
- Closed networks and mission movement referring to organizations having to shift their modes and topics of work away from their initial missions.
- Researcher survey findings on citizen science show that cooperation of academic researchers with citizens, consumers, patients, and other non-academic actors is still limited, it ranges from around 20% to even less of the research where such collaboration is taking place regularly. This confirms the barriers that CSO’s experience.
The potential benefits of Public Engagement and citizen science to take on more diverse topics depend on reducing barriers for small CSO’s to participate in R&I. This will help to make sure that scientific agendas are well aligned with grand societal challenges and thus enhance societal trust in science and could help funding bodies to make a better investment into research development and open innovation. You can find the full case study here.