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Too many hats: The challenges of opening up funding agencies to ethical stakeholder participation

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Background As the processes of scientific knowledge production and innovation are increasingly opened up to broader audiences, research and innovation funding agencies (RFOs) have emerged as a new site of public engagement. While public engagement in R&I has a long tradition, RFOs have little experience with such practices, leading to potential ethical pitfalls and a need for new ethics governance approaches. Methods Eleven participatory pilot projects were implemented by RFOs in two phases. Pilot data were collected via structured reporting templates, narrative pilot stories and final pilot reports. In addition, more open exchange took place in peer-learning workshops and meetings, which were protocoled and partly transcribed. These data were analyzed in a qualitative content analysis following Mayring (2014). Results This paper provides insights into drivers and barriers to ethical participation in the activities of research funding agencies and offers recommendations for enhancing the inclusivity and integrity of RFO practices. It describes the specificities of (ethical) engagement in RFO activities as elicited from our data along three axes: 1) structures, in terms of how funding agencies must proactively lay the groundwork for enabling ethical participatory processes; 2) processes, especially in terms of managing the different steps involved in recruiting and engaging participants; and 3) actors, in terms of the roles and responsibilities the involved stakeholders may inhabit. Conclusions The paper identifies various drivers of ethical engagement, including gaining an understanding of the structural context conditions within which participatory activities are implemented, identifying and addressing barriers to participation, and managing the expectations of all stakeholders involved in the process. Looking into potential instruments for ethical governance for funding agencies, the merits of ethics self-assessment, ethics review and external support are discussed. Concrete recommendations are formulated for teams and organizations planning to implement participatory activities in the future.
DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.18761.1
Language: English
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $841
OpenAlex ID: W4407337576
FWCI:
Cites: 71
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Related to: 10