Introduction

• Author: Tornasi, Zeno; Delaney, Niamh
• Pages: 6-9

6

INTRODUCTION

The Commission working paper in November 2000 ‘Science, Society and the Citizen in

Europe’ established the b asis f or the debate on the relationship of science and

technology with society. On 26 June 2001, European research ministers adopted a

resolution on ‘science and society and on women in science’ inviting both EU Member

States and the European Commission to become more active in bringing science and

society closer. As a resp onse to the June 2001 i nvitation, in December 2001 the ‘Science

and Society’ Acti on Pl an was launched to set out a common strategy to make a better

connection between science and European citizens.

The 'Science and Society' theme under ‘Structuring the ERA’ in the Sixth Framework

Programme (FP6) beca me the first ever initiative of its kind on a European scale. With a

budget of EUR 88 million, its goal was t o increa se society’s acceptance of and

engagement with science and to rectify gender imbalances in research. The Sci ence and

Society projects supported a wide range of studies and participa tory events in areas

including gender, ethics, young people and scientific participati on.2

In 2007, under the 7th Framew ork Programme for Research and Technological

Development (FP7), ‘Science and S ociety’ became ‘Science in Society (SiS)’ with the

main objecti ve to foster public engagement and a sustained two-way dialogue between

science and civil society. Its budget almost tri pled to 280 million euros. 183 projects

were funded with an average EC cont ribution of 1.6 million euros. SiS demonstrated a

clear European added value addressing science and society-relevant issues such as

governance, ethics, public participation, awareness raising, gender equality, science

education, open access to data, as well as dissemination of research and in novation.3

In 2012, the Communication on a reinforced ERA, included gender equality and gender

mainstreaming in R&I as one of its five core priorities .4

Fig. 1: Evolution of budget allocated to ‘Science with and for Society’ in EU FPs

2 Report o f the Expert Group: Evaluation of the Sixth Framework Programmes for research and tec hnological development

2002-2006

3 Study 'Commitment and coherence: Expostevaluation of the 7th EU Framework Programme (20072013)'

4 COM(2012) 392 final ‘A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for E xcellence and Growth’