INOS

Open Science and Citizen Science are growing exponentially and each play a key role in shaping research and society in the European Union. Αn increasing number of Citizen Science initiatives engage citizens in digitized projects for a social purpose in an open framework of collaboration.

The INOS project (Integrating open and citizen science into active learning approaches in higher education) played a key role in this future research landscape by stimulating Open Science and being part of the growing movement, which aims at “transforming science through ICT tools, networks and media, to make research more open, global, collaborative, creative and closer to society” (European Commission).

Aim

The project aimed to:

1. Problematize the social impact of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as knowledge creation, sharing and (re-) use ecosystems in the digital economy and to better situate their role in current demands for civic engagement, societal impact and learning opportunities for all.

2. Develop a pedagogical foundation based on well-proven active learning pedagogies for open/citizen science practice with the aim to encourage creativity and skill development, and to increase knowledge dissemination among citizen scientists in a pedagogically sound way

3. Upskill HE academic and library staff and students through exposure to contemporary trends in public engagement (such as open and citizen science) as a means to critically reflect on pedagogical models conveying active citizenship and social participation.

4. Enrich HE teaching, learning and training resources on active learning pedagogies (problem-based learning, game-based learning, maker education, crowdsourcing education, inquiry-based learning) with open and citizen science initiatives as demonstrations of current trends that claim an active role of citizens in decision making and governance.

5. Bring together target stakeholders and external stakeholders, in order to address the widest possible audience, raising awareness on the societal impact from Open Science (OS) and Citizen Science (CS) inside and outside HEIs, thus maximizing the impact of the project outputs.

How to participate

The project encouraged collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches between students and HE staff. It brought together university staff and students in collaborative and interdisciplinary projects during 4 short (1-2 day) and 4 long (4-6 month) Open Innovation Activities (OIAs) organised by partner universities. Implementation guidelines, use cases and a guide on how to run OIAs were produced. The 8 OIAs brought together around 400 participants, among them at least 270 students from different disciplines. Planned OIAs: hackathon, fablab, gamelab, Innovation sprint, FutureFactory, etc.

About funding

Funding bodies: European Comission

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