** This post was last updated in March 9th **

The Coronavirus disease occured in a serious number of cases in Italy. The Italian government has ordered the closing of schools and universities as well as the cancellation of all cultural events and conferences until 3 April 2020. The Fit4RRI project decided to postpone its Final Summit, until 29-30 April 2020 (if possible), either in presence or virtually. The RRI Forethinkers workshop has therefore also been postponed and the promoters will decide their nexts steps in the coming days

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Now is a crucial time for joining forces to strengthen the visibility of RRI in Horizon Europe! 

We therefore invite key RRI proponents, from key European RRI projects, and a range of ERA member states, to meet for a workshop (Rome, 20-21 March 2020) where the aim is to agree on, and coordinate, actions intended to help advance RRI in Horizon Europe. The workshop is organised with support from the Research Council of Norway and in collaboration with the European New HoRRIzon project, and with the kind support of the Fit4RRI organisers and the Sapienza Università di Roma which has offered to host the workshop at their premises, in connection with the Fit4RRI Summit. You can download the invitation to the workshop and the draft agenda from here (*)

Hereby we are sharing a position paper we intend to send to relevant shadow committee representatives for Horizon Europe, as well as other stakeholders that might be important for supporting the RRI agenda in Horizon Europe. Feel free to reuse parts of the document (or the whole!) for your own lobbying purposes.

POSITION PAPER 

Including RRI in the development and implementation of Horizon Europe 

E.-M. Forsberg, A. Gerber and S. G. Carson (February 2020)

• make research and innovation more societally legitimate, when it is developed in line with societal values
• help research and innovation be an instrument for meeting the sustainability goals
• in this way ensure broader societal support for research and innovation investments that are necessary to keep Europe as a competitive region globally 

• Drafting committees of each programme line should at an early point consider what RRI measures are appropriate for their respective programmes. The level of integration of RRI aspects should be proportional to the potential societal implications of the research and innovation funded in the lines. RRI should be included as assessment criteria and KPIs in (i) the agenda-setting for the Work Programmes; (ii) the definition of calls and guidance for applicants; (iii) the review process and grant agreements; (iv) the monitoring processes and (v) impact evaluation.
• Budgets must be devoted to RRI actions in projects funded under each programme line. 
• In this work, the drafting committees should consider seeking the support of RRI experts, who can (before a European network is formed) be found among the major Horizon 2020 RRI projects. In the running of Horizon Europe such a support system should be organised as a permanent structure. 
• It must be clear that citizen science, open science and co-creation are aspects of RRI, but responsibility in research and innovation also includes being anticipatory, inclusive, reflexive and responsive, and includes considerations of ethics, fairness (social, gender, etc.) and sustainability. Open science, citizen science and co-creation agendas should be considered in this broader perspective and reference to RRI should be made.
• In order to maintain the investment in RRI competence from Horizon 2020, to be used for high quality RRI engagement in Horizon Europe, a dedicated space (with an appropriate budget) for RRI competence building and further research should be allocated to Reforming and Enhancing the European R&I system, together with citizen science and open science. 
• A hub on RRI should be funded by the EC in order to ensure quality in the mainstreaming of RRI, co-creation, public engagement and citizen science in the whole framework programme. This hub should build on and further cultivate the RRI knowledge base. It should advise, train, consult, assess and provide quality control, and be a resource for those who include RRI related activities in Horizon Europe programmes and projects. It should also provide experts for the assessment of these aspects of research and innovation proposals and project activities, and for relevant committees and boards.
• There should be RRI NCPs from each Member State, which should guide and assess the operationalisation of RRI in Horizon Europe, to allow for learning processes at programme and project levels.