Workshop on Results of Public Consultation held in Riga by WP2

WP2, led by Signe Mežinska held a workshop presenting the results of the public consultation (D2.2.) in Riga, Latvia on 30^th of August. The workshop was aimed for the Stakeholder Advisory Board. Members from most of BEYOND’s Work Packages were also present. The workshop was held at the University of Latvia.

The public consultation consisted of an open questionnaire containing  multiple choice and open questions, as well as expert interviews. The questionnaire was open in the beginning of year 2024. Most of the respondents were involved in research (80,5%), but a portion of the answers were provided by the general public (15,1%) and the rest were by students (4,4%). Prevalent topics in the open answers were AI and public engagement between academia and people outside it. The rapid pace of AI advances poses a challenge: research ethics needs to be accommodating to change in response to cases of AI misuse. Losing trust in science was mentioned as the most severe consequence of research misconduct.

In addition to the presentation, it was discussed, how the project might best benefit from the results of the public consultation in the future. Transparency was called for by the majority of the respondents. Role of gender was still acknowledged as a prevalent issue in academia. Seniority and power relations were also considered as having similar problematic aspects. Work on the recommendations based on the results of the Public Consultation continues. Stay tuned on BEYOND for upcoming publications!