TIME4CS

TIME4CS aims at facilitating a way in which the scientific ecosystem could better take societal views into consideration by supporting Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) – i.e. research entities such as universities and research centres – in defining and implementing institutional changes that could lead to a better and more effective engagement of citizens in Research & Innovation.

Those institutional changes inside RPOs will entail the transformation of their governance systems by taking into account both the social – mindset of people inside the organisation – and the organisational – norms, protocols, procedures, policy – aspects of RPOs.

Intervention Areas for Institutional Change

To facilitate institutional change, TIME4CS has identified 4 Intervention Areas (IAs) that alone or combined seem to stimulate public engagement in R&I activities: 

• Research: Acknowledgment by the RPOs’ ecosystem of Citizen Science as an evolving methodology with societal and educational benefits, through its use in research projects and by the creation of Citizen Science communities of practice;
• Education & Awareness: Activities that increase the recognition and build capacity amongst researchers, funders and civil society of criteria for successful Citizen Science activities in compliance with ethical, legal and privacy regulations;
• Support resources and Infrastructure: Creation within the RPOs of points of contact for addressing Citizen Science questions and of a system to support researchers implementing Citizen Science activities;
• Policy & Assessment: Evaluation of Citizen Science contributions and adaptation of research evaluation policies and reputation systems accordingly, incentivising the implementation of CS activities

At TIME4CS-Case Studies we welcome Research Performing Organisations interested in contributing to the analysis of institutional changes leading to effective engagement of citizens in Research & Innovation. Please contact us to learn more about what we do or to become involved yourself.