Concluding remarks

• Author: Tornasi, Zeno; Delaney, Niamh
• Pages: 27-28

27

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Since 2014, t he p rojects funded under ‘Science with and for Society’ contributed to its

primary aims set out in the EU Regulation establishing Horizon 2020, notably to

effectively build cooperation between science and society, recruit new talent for science

and pair scientific excellence with social awareness and responsibility. 26

One of the key ways of working towards these three SwafS objectives, and ensuring

impact, is the implementation of institutional changes in beneficiaries. This is

demonstrated by the Key Performance Indicator for Swafs being ‘Percentage of research

organisations funded implementing actions to promote Responsible Research and

Innovation, and number of institutional change measures adopted as a result ’.27

The results of a sample of twelve RRI projects revealed that almost 250 individual

institutional change actions ar e implemented or in the p rocess of being implemented by

this part of the SwafS portfolio.28

The pioneers of institutional changes are Gender Equality projects dedicated to the

implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). Out of 168 institutions involved in GEP

projects, 130 institutions (78%) implemented or are in the process of implementing a

GEP.

SwafS wi ll well and truly surpass it s target of 100 i nstitutional cha nges in benef iciaries

by the end of Horizon 2020.

SwafS stakeholders are in an excellent position to take a leading role in supporting other

entities, for example universities envisaging institutional transformation. As

Commissioner Gabriel’s portfolio encompasses innovation, research, culture, education

and youth, exploiting synergies between research and innovation and education i s

particularly pertinent.

Science Education is the basis for recruiting new talent for science. It is crucial to

continue to invest in science education to nourish young curious minds a nd invest in

Europe’s future researchers. The high submission rate of proposals throughout Horizon

2020 convey the research community’s strong interest in this domain .

Integration services offered by the pan-European network of EURAXESS support centres

for researchers’ careers and thei r families is an investment in the R &I system and a key

enabler of brain and knowledge circulation and should be considered part of the much -

needed transformations and scale- up mechanisms to ensure an inclusive, healthy and

attractive work environment for excellent research in the renewed ERA.

Networking is key to ensure that projects learn from each oth er and build on exi sting

know-how. DG Research and Innovati on and the REA organise thematic cluster e vents to

promote networking between projects and encourage sharing of best practices. Project

co-ordinators demonstrated strong willingness to work tog ether.

International cooperation is one of the priorities of Commissioner Gabriel. SwafS

projects have embraced international cooperation and involve partners from around the

world.

26 Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Counc il establishing Horizon 2020

27 Horizon 2020 indicators

28 This data collection exercise did not cover projects dedicated to gender equa lity, ethics, or open access/open data, which, to

various degrees, focus also on institutional changes.