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The Science-Society Interface Discussed at FEBS Meeting in Barcelona

How do we achieve a real dialogue between Science and Society? What are scientists' responsibilities in this regard? These questions were discussed at a Round Table event 26 October 2017 at the "FEBS3+" conference in Barcelona, gathering biochemists and life scientists from France, Portugal and Spain.

pop art illustration of people in dialogue, not agreeing.
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By Eli Synnøve Vidhammer and Roger StrandUpdated: 16.11.2017 (First published: 14.11.2017)

Looking to Norway

Roger Strand was part of the 3-member expert panel and gave an introduction to the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in an EU context but also with practical examples from the RRI work at CCBIO and within the Norwegian Centre for Digital Life. The "Norwegian experience" was also the topic at a dedicated seminar the day before at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. 

While RRI in general has been more visible in the North of Europe, Catalan universities and research centres have taken an active role for years in the development of RRI, not the least through EU projects such as RRITOOLS and HEIRRI, the latter also with the participation of the University of Bergen.

Trust and distrust

  - At one level, it could feel strange to take part in academic seminars on the science-society interface in the exact moment when the rest of Catalonia and Spain were following the intense developments leading up to the declaration of independence by the Catalan Parliament, Roger Strand reports. - On another level, it is easy to see the deep interconnectedness between issues of trust and distrust in political, economic and scientific elites throughout modern societies. To the extent that RRI indeed may offer a "window of criticism", the Catalan interest in RRI is not much of a surprise.

Read more

CCBIO Opinion article - What is responsible cancer research?

CCBIO book release: "Cancer Biomarkers: Ethics, Economics and Society".

 

FEBS3+

The 1st FEBS3+ Joint Meeting of the French-Portuguese-Spanish Biochemical and Molecular Biology Societies Congress, was held 23-26 October 2017 in Barcelona. The Congress was organized by the French Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SFBBM), the Portuguese Society of Biochemistry (SPB) and the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), with financial support from the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS).

The Roundtable discussion featured speakers:

  • Mara Dierssen, Researcher at “Systems Biology Program”, CRG-Center for Genomic Regulation (Barcelona, Spain).

  • Roger Strand, Professor at the University of Bergen & the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Bergen, Norway), responsible research and innovation expert.

  • Raul Toran, Vicepresident at the Catalan Association of Science Communication (Associació Catalana de Comunicació Científica - ACCC).