Building public trust and outreach in the life sciences

Expected Outcome

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed at, tailored towards and contributing to all the following expected outcomes:

• Strengthened capacity of life sciences actors in science communication, risk communication, public outreach, and citizen engagement.
• Strengthened awareness of risks and benefits of life sciences by the public, by showcasing the latest Research and Innovation (R&I) developments in the life sciences, and their societal impact.
• New and innovative approaches developed to engage the public in R&I activities in the life sciences, with an emphasis on inclusive and participatory approaches, involving relevant stakeholders (e.g. researchers, research funders, policymakers, publishers, civil society organisations, business, and citizens).

Scope

Life science innovations significantly contribute to peoples’ daily life and to individual and social well-being. To foster public trust, people must understand how life sciences work and how these technologies may impact people’s lives.

This trust is not guaranteed. It is increasingly threatened by the rapid spread of mis- and disinformation and by insufficient outreach to and involvement of people to address their concerns and expectations. To maintain and deepen trust, especially among young people, R&I policymakers, researchers and industry players must be better equipped to engage with the public and to pursue responsible research and innovation.

Citizen engagement is particularly critical in areas like agriculture and food technology, where innovation intersects with health and sustainability considerations and values. Furthermore, citizen participation is key to build trust in the life sciences and ensure that they meet societal needs. By engaging citizens early on, we can ensure that research and innovation align with their values, concerns and expectations. This involves designing research and innovation processes that incorporate citizen input, such as setting research priorities, and create outcomes that are responsive to their needs.

To this end, proposals should address all the following activities:

• Provide advisory support and training to life science stakeholders, in order to upskill them in science communication and risk communication.
• Produce, publish and advertise to the relevant actors, guidance to engage citizens upstream in the development, co-production, and co-design of life sciences innovation.
• Produce, publish, and advertise to the relevant public an accessible repository of tools for life science stakeholders on risk communication.
• Design and run community engagement activities in the life sciences, in partnership with relevant local actors, such as science museums, R&I organisations, and/or community organisations.

Regarding advisory support and training, proposals should present how they will engage bilaterally with life science stakeholders to advise them and train them on science communication and risk communication in the life sciences. The proposal selected for funding should also establish links with the European Competence Centre for Science Communication[1] currently being created by the COALESCE[2] project and expected to be launched in 2027[3].

Regarding engagement of citizens in the development, co-production and co-design of life sciences innovations, proposals should focus on advising and training life science actors in deliberative citizen participation and co-design with citizens, including tools that allow discussions about values and ethical considerations of innovations in this sector. Proposals should set out the ways in which they will support life science actors to involve citizens in co-design, and also set out how they will evaluate the impact of the citizen engagement activities that they have supported. The consortium selected for funding is encouraged to use the tools and methods developed under previous research and tailor them to the life sciences.

Regarding the repository of tools and support for risk communication, such tools already exist and have been developed, notably the EU funded projects listed in the CORDIS Results Pack “Science communication: Empowering citizens in the public discussion of science”[4], the CORDIS Results Pack “Ethics and integrity: Building bridges for trust and excellence in research and innovation”[5] and the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for emergency risk communication[6]. Proposals should present what tools they will gather, how they will publish them, and what publicity and outreach they will conduct to raise awareness of this repository among the relevant life science actors (policymakers, researchers, industry, civil society organisations), tailoring tools and trainings to the life sciences. Proposals should present a long-term strategy for how the repository of tools will continue to be accessible beyond the lifecycle of this Coordination and Support Action (CSA).

Regarding community engagement activities, proposals should experiment with new and engaging formats across the programmed activities. Proposals should promote both science education, and multiple forms of public engagement with science, focusing on the life sciences. Proposals should focus on any areas within the life sciences, but at least one community engagement activity should focus on agriculture and food technology. The consortium selected for funding is encouraged to make use of findings and tools for stakeholder engagement developed by other Horizon Europe projects, including projects funded under topic HORIZON-CL6-2023-GOVERNANCE-01-6: “Co-creation and trust-building measures for biotechnology and bio-based innovation systems”. The consortium selected for funding is also encouraged to establish links with the projects funded under topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2026-07-ERA-05: “Pillar III: Fostering citizen engagement for more responsible and democratic R&I”, that will develop tools and guidelines on public engagement in R&I, and to tailor these tools and guidelines to applications in the life sciences. Proposals should explain how they will partner with relevant local actors, such as science museums, R&I organisations, and/or community organisations, to run innovative community engagement activities on the life sciences.

Proposals may consider involving the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) to participate in the advisory board of the consortium selected for funding, notably to benefit from the expertise of the JRC's Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy[7], regarding the engagement of citizens in the design of life sciences innovations and community engagement activities. Any such collaboration should be established after the proposal’s approval.

[1] https://scicommcentre.eu

[2] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101095230

[3] The European Competence Centre for Science Communication will be fully established by March 2027. Its development is being undertaken with a strong basis of co-creation amongst multiple stakeholders by the COALESCE project

[4] https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/442429-science-communication-empowering-citizens-in-the-public-discussion-of-science

[5] https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/450170-ethics-and-integrity-building-bridges-for-trust-and-excellence-in-research-and-innovation

[6] https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550208

[7] https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/participatory-democracy_en