DIMENSIONS OF RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

The concept "Responsible Research and Innovation" (RRI) has gained ever more importance within the European Union policy. Generally speaking, RRI is an emerging theoretical framework informing a new way to interpret the meaning that research and innovation can have in and for society along with their role in tackling the so-called "grand-challenges of our times". Considered as a more open and inclusive approach to the governance of science, RRI constitutes a challenge for science education. The current study is meant to identify the main conceptual dimensions characterizing RRI as they have emerged in the literature. The literature review was carried out in the EBSCO database. The search term was "responsible research and innovation". The term search was conducted within the full text, and the sources for the review had to be peer reviewed. The articles applied for the analysis had to be published in academic journals. As a result, the sample of the literature review consisted of 35 RRI-related articles. Dimensions in the study have been described so as to understand the potentiality of the concept and to detail the general framework of RRI. Based on the literature review, four dimensions of RRI were identified: inclusion, anticipation, responsiveness and reflexivity. Additionally, two emerging dimensions that were not singled out explicitly as dimensions appeared: sustainability and governance. In conclusion, the six dimensions that were identified in the present study provide a discussion on how RRI can be part of today's educational practices representing a broader meaning that science can have for education.