Responsible Research and Innovation as a Novel Approach to Guide Educational Impact of Mind, Brain, and Education Research

Abstract

We propose a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) framework to improve the alignment between mind, brain, and education (MBE) research, the educational practice, and other societal stakeholders. RRI is an approach that has successfully been used in different research fields, but not yet in MBE research. After substantiating the need for, and possibilities of using this framework within MBE research, we report a case study to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of RRI within an MBE context. This case study entails developing an educational intervention to improve learners' sense of agency regarding their own learning processes using neurofeedback. Using RRI, we found that societal stakeholders (teenagers, parents, and teachers) anticipate different potential impacts of this neurotechnology‐based intervention than researchers did, enabling us to adapt the intervention according to these perspectives. This example demonstrates that RRI enables researchers to be reflexive and responsive to the stakeholders needs and values, to ultimately improve the educational and societal value of MBE research.

Developing Sustaining Authentic Partnership Between MBE Researchers and Local Schools

“…In this commentary, we introduced the demand‐capacity‐based framework to build an authentic and sustainable researcher‐school partnership that facilitates the development of the mind, brain, and education community. We also noticed that increasingly more researchers in this field are initiating this kind of partnership (van Atteveldt, Tijsma, Janssen, & Kupper, 2019). More discussions should be encouraged along this practical direction.…”

Integrating Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience in Society: Lessons Learned From a Multidisciplinary Research Project on Education and Social Safety of Youth

“…Academic motivation is one of the most important predictors of academic achievement and learning (Deci and Ryan, 1985;Fortier et al, 1995;Vallerand et al, 1997). In their influential selfdetermination model, Deci and Ryan (1985) determined three needs for motivation: autonomy, competence and relatedness.…”

“…Different stakeholders often have different goals for a project ( van Atteveldt et al, 2019 ). If only one of the stakeholders, often the scientific partner, starts the project, and later on involves other partners, their goals will not be aligned.…”

“…First, setting up good collaborations between researchers and societal stakeholders (i.e., societal partners) is key. If societal partners are not involved in the project, the fundamental research findings often fail to be picked up and integrated in practice ( van Atteveldt et al, 2019 ; Brouwer, 2021 ). To enhance the chances of creating long-term societal impact, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences advises to create so-called ‘productive interactive networks’ ( KNAW, 2018 ).…”

“…A second challenge is that for successful integration of cognitive developmental neuroscience in society, all parties involved in the project need to have similar expectations. Often, scientists have different goals and expectations than their societal partners ( van Atteveldt et al, 2019 ). To successfully integrate cognitive developmental neuroscience findings, it is therefore important to discuss goals and expectations at the outset of the project.…”