All posts by Kaisa Matschoss

Presenting Engage2020 – a sister project of the PE2020

25/09/2014News feedcitizens, Engage2020, engagement, grand challenges, societal actors, stakeholders, surveyKaisa Matschoss

The European Commission has identified seven Grand Challenges – key issues ranging from demographic change, green transport to efficient energy. And it is targeting the challenges with the largest research programme to date – the €80 billion Horizon 2020. The challenges can only be tackled effectively if all of society’s actors are fully engaged. And this is what Engage2020 will contribute to.

The Engage2020 project will map and explore existing societal engagement in research and innovation and inspire new actors to include this in their praxis. The project focus is on where and why citizens, stakeholders, CSO’s and other societal actors can be engaged in research and innovation processes. The aim is to increase the use of engagement methods and policies in connection to the Grand Challenges. Continue reading Presenting Engage2020 – a sister project of the PE2020 →

Invitation to look at PE initiatives inventory

28/08/2014News feedinventory, public activism, public communication, public consultation, public deliberation, public engagement initiatives, public participationKaisa Matschoss

Dear users of the PE2020 website

We are happy to invite you to take a look at Deliverable 1.1. The report contains an inventory of 250 public engagement initiatives from Europe and beyond. Collectively, the engagement initiatives presented in the report provide evidence of the heterogeneous and creative practices which are currently employed in public engagement activities.

Continue reading Invitation to look at PE initiatives inventory →

Is science important to people?

12/08/2014News feedpeople, public engagement, scienceKaisa Matschoss

Is science important to ordinary people? And why?

Science is a system for exploring, winning and losing, for innovation and stagnation. In ancient times knowledge was passed in oral traditions, later people started to record their observations with numerical data and step by step science became more professionalized and institutionalized in 20th century. BUT… science has always been driven by curiosity, creativity, challenges and people. Today a third of the world’s economic growth has resulted from research. It affects us every day from the moment we wake up: the coffee you drink, the bus you ride, the shoes you wear, the film you watch, etc.

IF YOU THINK THAT SCIENCE DOESN’T MATTER THINK AGAIN… AND WATCH PE2020
video “ Why science is important?”

– Saule –

News from related projects – CASI

30/06/2014News feedpublic participation, societal stakeholders, sustainable innovationKaisa Matschoss

The PE2020 project is keeping a close eye on other projects that focus on public engagement/participation. A project that started around the same time as PE2020 is CASI – Public participation in developing a common framework for assessment and management of sustainable innovation.

Continue reading News from related projects – CASI →

PE2020 in Brazil

30/05/2014News feedinnovative public engagement, mutual learning, PCST, practitioners, science communicationKaisa Matschoss

In early May 2014, several hundred delegates from across the globe assembled in Salvador, Bahia for the biannual conference of the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) network. It is a deliberate and distinctive feature of the PCST conference series that it attracts both academics and practitioners involved in science communication, thus invoking a particularly vibrant and stimulating atmosphere of mutual learning and cross-fertilisation. Click to the PCST site here: http://www.pcst.co/

Continue reading PE2020 in Brazil →

Cooperation with science in society actors

05/05/2014News feedpilots, public engagement, research, science in society, science policy actors, toolsKaisa Matschoss

PE2020 project is based on intensive cooperation between the consortium, national science policy actors, research programmes and citizens. Public engagement pilots will be organized in the context of 6 research programmes focusing on grand societal challenges, such as climate change and aging.
In WP1 we identify innovative public engagement tools and procedures, such as societal advisory panels and criteria or games and simulations used in the design and prioritization of research. Most innovative procedures will be transferred to new contexts, where they will be tested and evaluated.
Continue reading Cooperation with science in society actors →

How we started PE2020, a new EU project on public engagement

27/03/2014News feedkick-off, scientific advisory boardKaisa Matschoss

Kick-off meetings are important milestones for new EU projects. It is the place and time for the consortium to gather together for the first time and push the project into the right direction. PE2020 kick-off meeting was held in Helsinki in 5-7 March, 2014. The meeting required a lot of work before and during the meeting but the real work gets really going only after the meeting! At some point, Mikko -the PE2020-project coordinator- who is a true scientist from the heart, was afraid that he will turn into a full-time manager while having to have each little detail thought over and organized, but he was relieved after realizing that the consortium is very experienced in completing EU projects. The preparatory work paid off, since the meeting was very successful and the consortium partners could spend a major part of the meeting talking about research and not just managerial issues. (Although a new definition was invented: mikkomanagement, instead of micromanagement, thanks Luciano! I think this will carry us through the project.)