Reflecting on RAi UK Impact Accelerator project’s Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) blogs

Reflecting on RAi UK Impact Accelerator project’s Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) blogs

by Virginia Portillo on behalf of the RAi UK Equities Pillar

Between November 2024 and April 2025, the Equities Pillar requested all seven RAi Impact Accelerator projects (spanning between November 2023 to May 2025) to write a short reflective blog (200-300 words) focussed on their project RRI and/or EDI practice. The intention of the blogs was for to highlight the benefits and/or challenges/lessons learnt – at the time of writing- from integrating RRI and EDI within those projects. Ultimately, to create a space to share best RRI and EDI practice examples with the RAi UK community and try to influence other projects’ practices within the wider ecosystem.

Implementation or RRI and EDI

While all the Impact Accelerator (IA) projects have considered RRI and/or EDI principles within their projects, from a methodological point of view, their application varied between teams. Beyond existing frameworks and tools to support RRI and EDI implementation, there is not a universal way for embedding RRI and/or EDI practice into research and/or innovation projects (see RAi UK RRI and EDI toolkits). Hence, some practitioners might had found opportunities, while others faced challenges for RRI and/or EDI implementation. Yet, we identified some similarities and differences on how the IA projects engaged with RRI and EDI practices, as well as many benefits and some challenges shared by these projects as described below.

Similarities

The main principles of RRI applied by most of the projects were: anticipate, reflect and engage (in line with UKRI AREA framework for RRI). To think in the present-anticipate- the potential impacts and possible misuses of AI systems, and to critically reflect throughout the AI systems life cycle: “…reflecting on possible unintended outcomes is a fundamental part of RRI….” (SAGE-RAI project blog).

Stakeholder engagement was key to all projects, and co-creation with stakeholders was articulated as the primary method for applying RRI by most of the projects: “A cornerstone of embedding RRI within the RAISE project is the adoption of a co-creation process.” (RAISE project blog).

Efforts to include a diverse range of stakeholders were recurrent topics. For instance, diversity and inclusion of different voices, cultures, gender, under-represented communities and issues of power asymmetry were considered by many projects:

“The success of these workshops is supported by our commitment to EDI. We have invited members of under-represented groups under-represented groups and worked to counteract structural hierarchies and legitimise the voice of all participants.” (AEGIS project blog).

Differences

While most of the projects referred to RRI or EDI, interestingly one project connected their RRI practice to equity: “RRI is at the core of the Amplify project … It is this inequality [tech focused on the affluent minority] that makes the project a fundamental part of “levelling the playing field”: to include such languages – and language communities – in a responsible manner…” (Amplify project blog).

Some projects were more specific that others on the way they considered and applied RRI and/or EDI within their work. One project valued the use of a tool:  RI Prompts and Practice Cards to support their RRI work with their project’s industrial partners (see benefits below).

Benefits

Benefits from applying RRI and EDI by the IA projects, were often linked to the co-creation activities with stakeholders (as mentioned above). Some projects reflected on the benefit of their RRI and/or EDI practice as evidenced in their projects’ outcomes: “Our consideration of EDI practice have motivated us to anchor diversity into all our activities from research…to our outcomes (e.g., ensuring that tools are accessible also to colourblind users).” (AIPAS project blog).

Research outcomes from RRI embedded practice, also influenced RI practice and impacted the culture within the business sector: “…putting RI into practice throughout the project life cycle, and strength the company’s current and future embedded RI culture.” (RAKE project blog).

Challenges

Challenges identified by some project teams included: geographical barriers (project members from several institutions and some overseas partners), limited resources (researchers working part-time), and not allocating specific time for regular RRI and EDI focused sessions within project teams. One project found challenging to apply RRI and/or EDI within their project team in a systematic way, but allocated time to RRI and EDI discussions when in person team meetings:

“While we successfully applied the principles of RRI outwardly, integrating them internally has presented challenges… When we meet in person, we schedule time to discuss RRI/EDI principles and to self-consciously consider them in respect to our own work, not only what we promote to others.”  (Applying RRI Principles within the AI Equality by Design, Deliberation and Oversight project blog).

Conclusion

All the IA projects showed evidence of consideration of RRI and/or EDI principles and shared examples activities of their practice. However, the way they implemented them as part of their projects varied. While internal project’s RRI and EDI leadership is key to achieve systematic embedded RRI and EDI practice throughout the span of a project, we acknowledge IA are relatively short-terms projects with limited resources. However, the IA blogs’ reflections on RRI and/or EDI practice showed a genuine commitment to RRI and EDI principles and all project provided valuable examples and outcomes from their implementation within their projects.

Lessons learnt from the IA projects RRI and EDI reflective practice:

• Ringfence time for regular RRI and EDI project team discussions
• Leadership: to have a team member leading on the RRI and EDI aspects within each project and throughout
• Ensure all members of the team (and stakeholders if possible) are aware of the value of RRI and EDI implementation: reflected in project outcomes

Responsibility Statement

This blog attempts to be a critical overview of how the seven RAi UK Impact Accelerator projects have reflected about their RRI and/or EDI embedded practices. It was created with no use of Generative AI software and approved by the Chair of RAi UK Equities Pillar (Prof. Elvira Pérez).