Hesjedal

Question 1

Briefly explain the four RRI dimensions (what are they and what do they
mean?).

Answer 1

The four RRI (responsible research and innovation) dimensions are:
1. anticipation; lookng forwards, thinking through which consequences and implications (both intended and unintended) the research and/or development might have

2. reflexivity; thinking through the morals, motivations, political and social assumptions, regarding choice of research problems, which methods are utilized and the design of any innovation
3. inclusion; not having a monologue from science to society, but involve more parties, and have a dialogue.
4. responsiveness; if there are negative reactions, implications or consequences arising from the research and/or development, the researchers should listen to these and not just gun on.

Question 2

What are the European Commission six RRI policy keys? Choose two of the
keys and give a more detailed explanation of these.

Answer 2

Science education
ethics
open access
gender equality
governance
public engagement 

Ethics concerns the choice of scientific problem, how the experiment is performed, etc., as well as whether the research will result in good or bad things (desirable or undesirable) for society as a whole.

Open access regards who has access to the research, and who “owns” it. By making the research and results accessible for more people, more people can utilize it and build upon it, thus facilitating development and innovations for society as a whole.

Question 3

Give at least one example of unintended consequences of socio-technical
development and explain why this has had consequences for the relation
between science and society.

Answer 3

Unintended consequences include lack of trust in science and the government, as can be seen with GMO (or vaccines). Some agriculture-workers are concerned that the GMO debate mostly regards the safety of the products, not the econnomical consequences for their profession.

Vaccines have also had unintended consequences (narcolepsy after the swine flu vaccine), which has lowered the trust in vaccines in general, especially those who have been emergency approved.

Question 4

Briefly discuss different framings or understandings of “the public”.

Answer 4

The public can be regarded as many things;
- consumers, in which science communicated to them would regard how the science can be applied and how if can affect the consumers life/work/whatever.

• laity, or non-experts, in which case the science communicated is to keep a dialogue between them and the scientists to not create a distinction between them with science monologuing.
• stakeholders, in which case the economical consequences are communicated
• citizens, in which case the science is communicated because it is the most appropriate and moral thing to do in a demicratic society

Question 5

Give one example or reason why focusing only on risk and risk assessment
often provide a too narrow approach when considering new and emerging
technologies.

Answer 5

GMO, farmers, agriculture, sterile plants, economical consequences.

Question 6

“Science consists of choices”. Briefly discuss this statement and give at least
two examples of choices taken in science.

Answer 6

everything in science consists of choices. If in an experiment you get an outlier-result, whether you choose to include it in your data is a choice to be made. It could result from some outer cause like experimental fails, or it could be an actual proper result.

What methods to use, what literature to use, which problems are regarded are all choices that have to be made in a scientific approach.