Science and Engineering Ethics 23 (1):81-103 (2017)
Abstract |
This paper makes a plea for more reflexive attempts to develop and anchor the emerging concept of responsible research and innovation. RRI has recently emerged as a buzzword in science policy, becoming a focus of concerted experimentation in many academic circles. Its performative capacity means that it is able to mobilise resources and spaces despite no common understanding of what it is or should be ‘made of’. In order to support reflection and practice amongst those who are interested in and using the concept, this paper unpacks understandings of RRI across a multi-disciplinary body of peer-reviewed literature. Our analysis focuses on three key dimensions of RRI that remain particularly opaque. A total of 48 publications were selected through a systematic literature search and their content was qualitatively analysed. Across the literature, RRI is portrayed as a concept that embeds numerous features of existing approaches to govern and assess emerging technologies. Our analysis suggests that its greatest potential may be in its ability to unify and provide political momentum to a wide range of long-articulated ethical and policy issues. At the same time, RRI’s dynamism and resulting complexity may represent its greatest challenge. Further clarification on what RRI has to offer in practice—beyond what has been offered to date—is still needed, as well as more explicit engagement with research and institutional cultures of responsibility. Such work may help to realise the high political expectations that are attached to nascent RRI.
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Keywords | Responsible research and innovation Emerging science and technologies Scientific cultures Responsibility |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | |
DOI | 10.1007/s11948-016-9761-6 |
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References found in this work BETA
Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge.Karin Knorr-Cetina - 1999 - Harvard University Press.
The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age.Hans Jonas - 1984 - University of Chicago Press.
The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age.Hans Jonas - 1984 - Human Studies 11 (4):419-429.
The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology.Langdon Winner - 1986 - University of Chicago Press.
View all 41 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Lessons for Responsible Innovation in the Business Context: A Systematic Review of Responsible-, Social- and Sustainable Innovation Practices.Vincent Blok, R. Lubberink, J. Van Ophem & O. Omta - 2017 - Sustainability 5 (9):721.
Responsible Research Is Not Good Science: Divergences Inhibiting the Enactment of RRI in Nanosafety.Lilian van Hove & Fern Wickson - 2017 - NanoEthics 11 (3):213-228.
Teaching Responsible Research and Innovation: A Phronetic Perspective.Niels Mejlgaard, Malene Vinther Christensen, Roger Strand, Ivan Buljan, Mar Carrió, Marta Cayetano I. Giralt, Erich Griessler, Alexander Lang, Ana Marušić, Gema Revuelta, Gemma Rodríguez, Núria Saladié & Milena Wuketich - 2019 - Science and Engineering Ethics 25 (2):597-615.
Genome Editing and Responsible Innovation, Can They Be Reconciled?Ann Bruce & Donald Bruce - 2019 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32 (5):769-788.
Citizen Science Fiction: The Potential of Situated Speculative Prototyping for Public Engagement on Emerging Technologies.Jantien W. Schuijer, Jacqueline E. W. Broerse & Frank Kupper - 2021 - NanoEthics 15 (1):1-18.
View all 14 citations / Add more citations
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