Creating opportunities for Citizen Science research in life sciences

Citizen Science offers great opportunities for the public to actively contribute to the research process, instead of merely being informed of research results. In two Citizen Science projects being supported by ORION Open Science, citizens will assemble genomes in 3D by playing the Genigma videogame; while in SMOVE they will monitor the relation between daily physical activity and health in young people.

Ten available grants to innovative Open Science projects

The ORION partner South Moravian Centre for International Mobility (JCMM) will award 10 grants of €5000 to master and doctorate students from universities in Brno, Czechia, to carry out innovative projects that have Open Science attributes and address "local societal challenges“. The application deadline is 15 January 2019.

From understanding to tinkering: the future of genome research

Genome editing tools such as CRISPR are beginning to reshape the physical world around us, one DNA base pair at a time. As an Artist in Residence in labs at the ORION partner Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and at STATE Studio, Emilia Tikka explored how this new technology could affect society in the future and created the exhibition “AEON - Trajectories of Longevity and CRISPR” which is currently on display in Berlin. This art work will also be used as inspiration and stimulus for ORION public dialogues on genome editing taking place in 2019.

Forthcoming activities

Training workshop on Open Science, 18 January
If you are in Germany in January, put the date in your calendar for the training workshop on Open Science which will be held at the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany. Please see the ORION calendar for more information on training activities.

ORION Open Science podcasts, January 
In this exciting new series Luiza Bengtsson and Emma Harris, MDC, will interview a wide variety of interesting guests. From data sharing to citizen science and from peer review to professional development, the podcasts will explore the good, the bad and the ugly of the current scientific system, and what Open Science practices can do to improve the way we do science. More info coming soon on the ORION website.
 

Meet the Team

In short

11th Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation 2018, 8 November, Bonn
Does the public wish to be involved in the process of scientific research? If yes – how? These questions were asked in our public survey "Public attitudes to life sciences research in six European countries" and in the German and Swedish Science Barometers. The results from these studies were presented and discussed during a session at the Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation. 

ORION National Stakeholder Dialogues
Engaging with multiple stakeholders in co-creation experiments to explore different ways to make scientific research more participatory is at the heart of the ORION project. During the last months national stakeholder workshops on Open Science have been held in four of the ORION partner countries: Czechia 25 September, Germany 8 November, Spain 14 November and in the UK 10 December. 

Engage 2018 Conference, 29-30 November, Edinburgh 
Participants at the conference were invited to discuss the future of public engagement and the findings in our pan-European study "Public attitudes to life sciences research" during the poster session. Read more

International symposium on public engagement with genome editing
Emma Martinez, Babraham Institute, was a speaker at the online international symposium on public engagement with genome editing which was a part of the Genome Editing Public Engagement Synergy programme and organised by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement in the UK on 21 November. Read more

Arts in Science Communication e-Life webinar, 28 November
Do you love science and arts? Luiza Bengtsson, MDC, talked about the ORION "Artist in residence" project in the Arts in Science Communication webinar. The exhibition is currently on display at the STATE Studio science gallery in Berlin. Read more 

La Caixa & Vitae Open Science webinar, 29 November  
The objective of this webinar was to establish what Open Science is and why it is needed. Emma Harris, MDC, gave an overview of the main areas of Open Science and information on what resources the ORION project can provide. Find out more in her presentation: Open Science - What, Why, How? 

Follow us on social media! Stay tuned about project activities via Facebook: @ORIONOpenScience LinkedIn: ORIONOpenScience and Twitter: @ORION_opensci 

About ORION Open Science

The EU-funded ORION Open Science project aims to explore ways in which research performing and research funding organisations in life sciences and biomedicine can open up the way they fund, organise and do research. We will embed Open Science principles in the research process and involve citizens, policy makers and researchers in co-creation experiments, public dialogues, training and citizen science. Find out more how you can get involved in the ORION Open Scienc project at our website.