Science shop at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis (Tunisia) in the context of the InSPIRES project

1. Since the revolution in 2011, Tunisia witnessed the rise of a very active civil society involved in the decision-making processes.
Since 2015 Tunisia has become a country associated to H2020. This drove a new dynamic in international cooperation activities.
Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) is more century public health and research institution who is committed to answering to public health needs.
Consequently, for IPT community, adopting RRI principles in their activities has become a must.
Science shops are among the best tools to increase the engagement of civil society in R&I activities. This is the aim of a recent Swafs H2020
project “Ingenious Science shops to promote Participatory Innovation, Research, and Equity in Science” (InSPIRES).
For our first experience, we have launched a call to collect needs from the civil society. 36 projects were submitted by different CSO’s. It is a
very strong signal that Tunisian CSO’s are ready to co-create with scientific laboratories to tackle their societal challenges.
- - - - - - - - - - - CONTEXT | MOTIVATION - - - - - - - - - -
Science shop "Science ensemble" / Institut Pasteur de Tunis
• Give evidence and support political bodies and decision-makers, in order to propose changes in local, regional,
national and international policies;
• Nurture the debate about the place and role of society in science, encouraging the systematic and ethical
involvement of civil society actors and their societal concerns in the research and innovation processes, and
• Support the development of new Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Open Science (OSc) strategies and
guidelines, in the context of safe spaces to involve and engage civil society in the whole science process.
Science shop at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis
(Tunisia) in the context of the InSPIRES project
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHALLENGES | DILEMMAS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lack of connection mechanisms with civil society
Reluctance of the researchers to be open to the society
Scientific Vs practical nature of social needsUnfamiliarity with the Science Shop concept
No consideration of civil society in national research strategy
Deficit of trust between stakeholders (researchers,
civil society, decision makers)
Disconnection of research and innovation with the reality of
the country and the national context
No sustainability ensured for the Science shop
‫العلم‬‫مع‬‫بعضنا‬
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RESULTS | IMPACTS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
External stakeholders:
Co-creation process for our pilot project
Social needs
Selection / Reformulation of social needs
into research project with the involvement
of external stakeholders
Implementation of the project
Monitoring
Evaluation
Training
Results
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PROCESS | METHOD - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -