Citizens’ interest in scientific and technological research is high. Yet despite this interest, levels of actual citizen involvement in R&D remains limited. This means that citizens have no other option but to trust that those governing science and technology are taking the right decisions for their benefit and that of society.
This situation is exaggerated in the security research context where citizens are rarely or restrictively involved. At the same time, security technologies present risks that if not managed properly, can infringe human rights, reproduce and reinforce power imbalances and perpetuate social injustice.
Designing responsible, ethically acceptable, and socially desirable security technologies requires methods that facilitate the identification of potential diverse adverse impacts on society. TRANSCEND aims to address this context by improving practices of societal and citizen engagement in security R&D. To achieve this goal, TRANSCEND has the following objectives:
Objective 1: Carry out systematic review and stock-taking of technologies to enhance societal resilience in civil security, and assess the societal acceptability, directionality, desirability of these systems or applications.
Objective 2: Identify and evaluate ways, including the use of ethical, societal and human rights impact assessments, to mitigate or significantly reduce negative impacts of these technologies on citizens’ privacy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, or the environment.
Objective 3: Implement, test and validate a methodology for stakeholder-engaged responsible research and innovation (RRI) in different fields of security research.
Objective 4: Build on existing knowledge on lessons learned and best practices, to support the further development of the skills and knowledge that organisations need to use innovative security technologies responsibly, i.e. in line with needs and concerns of citizens and civil society., in timely and
TRANSCEND’s pathway to impact is as follows:
• We will identify the state-of-the-art on available methods for citizen and societal engagement and societal impact assessment in the development and deployment of security technologies, to ensure ethical acceptability and societal desirability.
• We will then apply and evaluate these methods, in close collaboration with organisations ‘on the ground’, notably to enable meaningful participation of people, including from vulnerable or marginalised groups and people with different access needs, and of organisations that speak on their behalf and represent their perspectives.
• We will deliver these engagement methods in an accessible and engaging format, together with recommendations to apply them in practice—based on an analysis of barriers and enablers.
• We will create a positive impact in society by enabling societal actors to participate in the development and deployment of security technologies, in a Quadruple Helix context (academia, government, industry, society).
