Professor Timo Aarrevaara and researcher Kirsi Pulkkinen are authors of a recently-published report in which thirteen societal interaction plans of projects funded by the Strategic Research Council have been examined.
According to Professor Aarrevaara, the research teams included public engagement in the framework and planning of their research projects. Public engagement refers to activities that enable citizens or stakeholders outside the science community to have a defined and result-oriented role in research and innovation processes. The projects favoured proactive policies to promote interaction, and the identified public engagement practices went beyond traditional science communication. This also brought
other stakeholders into all phases of the projects.
“The projects were strengthened by the practice of including knowledge production and societal interaction in them at an early stage. Identifying and defining relevant public engagement tools also improved the researchers’ success when competing for funding,” notes Professor Aarrevaara.
The Strategic Research Council, operating under the Academy of Finland, sent the first call for proposals in spring 2015. During the first round, the Council financed 16 cross-disciplinary projects. The Council’s strategic research funding amounts to about €55 million per year.
The report "Societal Interaction of Science in Strategic Research Council Funded Projects" is part of the EU / FP7 project "Public Engagement Innovations for the Horizon 2020" (
http://pe2020.eu).
Further information
Professor Timo Aarrevaara, ULapland, 040 484 4267
Researcher Kirsi Pulkkinen, ULapland, 040 484 4191