TORCH Research and Innovation Project

TORCH WP1 and WP2 focused on Governance and Project Management. Key activities included: implementing the TORCH governance structure; coordinating work plans, WPs and research challenges development; handling reporting to REA, financial matters, and integration with CHARM educational projects.

WP3 (Cross Cutting Principles) uncovered ways in which universities could do better to support inter-/transdisciplinarity, promote more research gendered innovation and enshrine a broader view on research ethics and integrity. This will feed into shared strategies and policies for a Common RRI Framework.

WP4 (Common Science Agenda) set a stepping stone towards CHARM-EU’s Common Scientific Agenda. Harmonization of diverse institutional research priorities will be achieved by exploring collaborative ways (involving researchers and universities leadership). The method proved to be a valid pathway to establish researchers’ networks with shared scientific interests via SDG-driven goals. The six research challenges were developed further by multidisciplinary teams to target European funding to implement them as research projects from 2023 onwards.

Current strategies, policies and organizational models were detected through WP5 (Strengthening Cooperation Between Universities and Enterprises), establishing the basis for future cooperation to achieve greater involvement of entrepreneurial researchers, students, and partner enterprises. A university-enterprise policy procedure to “identify innovation resulting from research projects with a potential for transfer” could be developed, to set up a more concrete collaboration between RSOs and TTOs by means of a potential virtual network.

WP6 (Mainstreaming of Comprehensive Open Science practices) identified strengths and gaps on an institutional level regarding Open Science, and developed a set of recommendations. Sharing good practices helps making Open Science a mainstream practice among researchers and institutions.

WP7 (Public Engagement) output can be taken forward and deliver potential impacts on how to harness public engagement and transdisciplinary science in a way that stimulates involvement of the underprivileged in society. It is key to further explore the contentious issues of open science as a larger movement, including to address the issue of power asymmetry in the production and utilization of knowledge for solving societal challenges.

WP8 (Common Policies and Strategies) drew together work in work packages 3-7 to draft, develop, test (via WP9), and review a set of five Strategic Priority Areas as well as a common recommendations framework to sit within CHARM-EU research & innovation agenda. The work in this WP guided and informed all research activities in terms of goals, values, vision and best practice for the Alliance in the years to come. We intend to be open and proactive in exchanging recommendations and best practice with other alliances, non-academic collaborators and other external stakeholders.

WP9 (Action Plans and Pilots) tested several transferrable methods and reached tangible and exploitable results through seven Pilots that are linked with Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Open Science, joint alliance-level research support, networking of universities’ units. These actions also contributed to proposing a comprehensive reform of Research Assessment reform in CHARM-EU on a longer term. The WP also produced five Action Plans to be carried out after the end of the project. Recommendations were provided for tuning and finalising Alliance-level RRI policies and strategies.

WP10 and WP11 (Communication and Dissemination) developed communication materials, dissemination strategy, and organized open annual forums: 1^st) Mar-2022, Budapest; 180+ participants, 10+ Alliances represented; 2^nd) Mar-2023, Dublin; 120+ participants, 15 Alliances represented; 3^rd) Joint event with fellow Alliances, Nov-2023, Brussels; 250+ participants, 37 Alliances represented. Also drafted 2 Policy Briefs with recommendations to the EC for further policy development.