*The information below is subject to change as the course is still being developed. The information will be made definite in June 2026.***
Responsible Research and innovation (RRI) are often portrayed as apolitical activities that have clear benefits for society at large. This course takes a somewhat different position and argues that R&I are best understood as performative activities that enact new worlds. By addressing the concerns of specific stakeholders, historically these are imperialist states and the military-industrial complex, RRI efforts have tended to enact better worlds for the rich and the privileged while disregarding the interests of disadvantaged peoples (the poor, non-white) and non-human species.
Sustainability science seeks, often explicitly, to bring about better worlds that are more just for a far broader range of stakeholders. Doing so entails including these stakeholders in RRI projects thereby co-producing knowledge in the hope to bring about or contribute to a particular sustainability transition.