More than 660 stakeholders engage in the Co-ResponsHIVility project to define a Research Agenda for HIV / AIDS prevention
- Co-ResponsHIVility is a pilot project on the governance for the HIV eradication through an open and inclusive process involving different stakeholders in the subject in order to co-develop a Research Agenda for HIV / AIDS prevention.
- The IrsiCaixa Living Lab for Health coordinates the project that is implemented during the 2016-17 academic year through collaborative deliberation methodologies, inspired by similar experiences implemented internationally by patient associations, universities, research centers and foundations.
- The innovation provided by Co-Responsibility is that for the first time the opinion of the educational community is taken into account in the decision-making process. More than 650 students and secondary school teachers collaborate with researchers from the University Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and University of Barcelona (UB) to elaborate the Agenda together with 2 public institutions, 2 research centers and 7 civil society entities.
The IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute, jointly promoted by the "la Caixa" Foundation and the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, initiates the Co-ResponsHIVility Project, which aims to develop a Research Agenda for HIV/AIDS Prevention with the collaboration of more than 660 interested social actors. Together, they will elaborate a list of research priorities for the prevention taking part in methodologies of collaborative deliberation. The actors involved are health care professionals and researchers linked to the IrsiCaixa Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and other research centers and universities, government policy makers such as the Public Health Agency and the Department of Health of Catalonia, representatives of the affected community (Members of the CAC and SIDASTUDI) and the educational community (students, teachers and other actors in the secondary schools). The project is carried out during the academic year 2016-17 under the coordination of the IrsiCaixa Living Lab for Health and is part of the European project EnRRICH and the educational programme Xplore Health, jointly promoted by IrsiCaixa and the "la Caixa" Foundation.
Co-ResponsHIVlity takes place in several stages and begins with the analysis of existing lines of research on prevention at the international, national and local level. The analysis will be disseminated through communication materials designed by high school students and aimed at different communities. Later, the different stakeholders will explore their own needs, prioritize the different lines of research and try to integrate the different results through dialogue activities, in order to elaborate a final agenda of priority lines of research.
This is the first time that the opinion of high school students is included in the development of a Research Agenda for HIV / AIDS prevention, and taken into account together with the opinions of other stakeholders. In fact, more than a thousand young people chose the topic (during course 2014-15) as the second health issue that worried them the most, right after the Mental Health topic (that was addressed with the "Healthy Mind" project). Beyond the elaboration of a Research Agenda, this process will also empower stakeholders, and especially young students, allowing them to develop competencies related to communication, collaboration, deliberation and the innovation culture. At the same time, it will also allow them to develop reflection skills around the research process, the ethical, legal, social aspects related to it and the application of the knowledge generated to respond better to unmet need. All this process will increase the legitimacy of research and facilitate the knowledge transference.
The methodologies used are inspired by the movement promoted by the EC under the name of "Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)". This initiative aims to implement a transformative change in the way research and innovation (R&I) are carried out and governed. It also promotes the collaboration of different stakeholders to participate in deliberative processes that are aimed at better aligning their needs and expectations with the advances in R&I.
The Co-ResponsHIVility is inspired on the Science Shops model, promoted within the EnRRICH european project, which consist on engaging master's students to devote their master's degree thesis to a social need. For this project, we count with the collaboration of students coming from the Master in Specialized Communication (UB) and the Master's of Training of Teaching Staff (UPF), as well as experts in participation processes for Research and Innovation (R&D) and for R&D governance of the IrsiCaixa Living Lab of Health.