Responsible research and innovation applied to human rights and higher education.

The present proposal explains the development of the methodology of Real Social Project during term 2015-2016 in the frame of the research project Fostering a Transition towards Responsible Research and Innovation Systems (FoTRRIS) funded by the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Commission.

The method of Real Social Project, which has been continuously used by our research team at the Faculty of Communication (Complutense University of Madrid) since 2005, consists of research applied to human rights and of real communication projects for NGOs carried out by students that are overseen by lecturers. These initiatives that include RRI into higher education curricula have been recognized and funded by Complutense University of Madrid as projects of Innovation and Improvement of Teaching Quality.

To the usual activities of the Real Social Project, we have to add during term 2015-2016 the diffusion of human rights by means of documentary cinema, as well as the organization of the “IV Convention Africa Exists” by advertising students on December 15th.

By one hand, this latest edition of ‘Africa Exists’ allows all members of the University community to become aware of diverse topics related to this continent, such as childhood, refugees, information and mass media or entrepreneurship. All that thanks to some NGOs like AMREF-Flying Doctors, África Directo, Fundación Sur, Asociación Museke and TYAD.

By the other hand, the project of diffusion of human rights in Lima with documentary cinema, funded by Banco Santander, is a small-scale example of the application of responsible research and teaching innovation to the capital city of Peru. Peruvian students analyse the use of experimental documentary cinema as a tool of social questioning and transformation that fosters an egalitarian world. In the same way, the self-production of the films is encouraged because it provides more autonomy for social criticism and for the freedom in the defence of human rights.