Science & Innovation policy in DEbate: COnditions for MaxiMised socIetal ouTputs through mulTi lEvEl analysis

ended

The EU-28’s yearly public Research and Development (R&D) expenditure amounts to more than EUR 100 billion, which must be used in an efficient, impact-driven yet fair way. Funding mechanisms and policies have thus considerably evolved in the last few decades, sometimes with adverse effects. The resulting intense budget scrutiny puts pressure on all categories of actors: at policy (decision makers); implementation (researchers); and receiver (general public) levels, generating category-specific issues and biases that hinder creating optimal funding mechanisms and policies. To provide a solution, this project develops an innovative public engagement approach inspired by participative democracy theory and practices. It will produce for the first time an unbiased mapping of the agendas and needs of all three actor categories and use it to delineate relevant policy recommendations. This ambitious objective will be achieved by focusing on the French system, taking advantage of the research-intensive area of Grenoble where the beneficiary is located. In practice, the Experienced Researcher (ER) will produce a review of the state of the art of public R&D funding mechanisms and policies in France, define the public engagement and debate technique to be used, before implementing it upon 3 separate groups --one for each actor category-- over a period of 1.5 years. This innovative, multi-disciplinary research process and its outcome will be valorised through academic and outreach communications as well as dialogue with relevant national and European stakeholders. This project, marking the return of the ER to a research career in Europe after years working abroad as a practitioner in international relations and research management, features a comprehensive suite of scientific and transversal skills training and knowledge transfer activities that will place the ER as an ideal catalyst for the creation of a local expertise cluster in science policy and the science of science.