More Meaningful Citizen Engagement is called for in the Next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council recently reached a partial agreement on the successor of Horizon 2020; the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Ecsite, the European Network of Science Centres and Museums, partly welcomes the new framework but also finds that it is lacking in citizen involvement strategy. Therefore, Ecsite is asking all science engagement organisations to sign an Open letter urging the European Commission to meaningfully engage with citizen and be more ambitious in science engagement, a task museums and science centres already are well-equipped to do.

In the new programme for research and innovation, expected to launch 1 January 2021, Ecsite would like to see an equivalent to the current ‘Science with and for Society’ (SwafS) strand. To further maximize Horizon Europe‘s relevance and impact, Ecsite suggests three communication objectives to the European Commission:

  1. Enhance European citizens’ scientific culture
  2. Involve stakeholders and citizens in R&I priority setting
  3. Make the topics of the Missions the talk of Europe

.Any organization that wishes to participate can simply download the open letter, which is addressed to the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Carlos Moedas.

Also interesting

Report: Transforming access - Inclusive practices in museums

A report published by the Balkan Museum Network aims to help museums create environments that foster inclusivity, enhance visitor…

Two people are talking. One of them has their back to us, the other one is dressed in bright colours, facing the camera and is gesticulating with her hands while explaining something.

NEMO mentoring programme empowers museum…

The NEMO One to One Mentoring programme has concluded another successful year, providing invaluable support to museum educators across Europe. This unique initiative, organised in partnership with GEM – Group for Learning in…

 

Recording of keynote from NEMO European…

NEMO's European Museum Conference 'Can we talk? Museums facing polarisation', was opened with a keynote by Meta Knol, an advocate for the transformative role of museums in society. To share her words further, NEMO has published a…