The Kick-off Meeting of the STEP CHANGE Project has been held online on March 15th and 16th, 2021.
The first day, after some introductory words by Klavdija Kutnar, Rector of the University of Primorska (the institution leading the project), Yiannis Vacondios, Project Officer of the EC Research Executive Agency, provided a set of information related to the management of the project while Linden Farrer, EC Policy Officer, dwelled upon the policy context and the future perspective of RRI in the new Horizon Europe Framework Programme.

Subsequently, Elena Bužan (from the University of Primoska and project coordinator) offered an overview of the project, followed by the presentations of the 5 Citizen Science Initiatives (CSIs) to be implemented during STEP CHANGE, respectively promoted by the University of Primoska, the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Women Engage for a Common Future, the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and Action for Rural Women’s Empowerment.

In the afternoon, Rosa Arias and Nora Salas Seoane (Science for Change) presented the Work Package (WP) 1, aimed at activating the co-design process of the CSIs in the first phase of the project. In the second day, Rosa Arias brought to the attention some key theoretical and methodological issues related to the development of Citizen Science. Then, the focus shifted on the other WPs of the project, i.e., WP7 (Mutual Learning and training), led by ZSI; WP8 (Participatory evaluation), led by K&I; WP9 (Stocktaking process), led by ECSA; WP10 (Communication and dissemination), led by EUSEA; and WP11 (Management), led by the University of Primorska.