INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM OF RESEARCH STAFF ASSOCIATIONS COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE

Their core work

ICoRSA is an international umbrella body representing research staff associations worldwide, advocating for researcher rights, ethics, and responsible research practices. Their core work involves embedding Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) frameworks into research-performing organisations — covering ethics, integrity, gender equality, open access, and public engagement. In H2020, they bring the voice of early-career and postdoctoral researchers into projects that shape science policy and governance, and increasingly contribute public engagement expertise to technical projects in sectors like marine energy.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ICoRSA's early H2020 involvement (2018) focused on global RRI networking and science governance — connecting nation states, international organizations, and civil society around ethical research conduct. By 2019-2020, their focus shifted toward practical institutional change: gender equality, open access, mutual learning, and evaluation of RRI interventions. The MUSICA project (2020) signals a new direction — applying their public engagement and ethics expertise to hard-technology domains like offshore marine platforms.

ICoRSA is moving from policy-level RRI advocacy toward hands-on public engagement roles in technical and environmental projects, making them increasingly relevant for consortia needing societal acceptance components.

How they like to work

ICoRSA operates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a specialist voice rather than a project driver. With 45 unique partners across just 3 projects and 16 countries, they join large, diverse consortia and bring a specific niche (researcher representation and RRI expertise) rather than broad technical capacity. This makes them a low-risk, high-legitimacy addition for projects requiring demonstrable societal engagement.

Despite only 3 projects, ICoRSA has collaborated with 45 distinct partners across 16 countries, reflecting their involvement in large pan-European consortia. Their network spans well beyond Ireland, with connections distributed across the EU and international research associations.

What sets them apart

ICoRSA is one of very few organisations that represents research staff associations at the international level — giving them direct legitimacy when projects need genuine researcher community input. Unlike consultancies that advise on RRI, ICoRSA IS the research community voice. For consortium builders, they tick the "meaningful public/civil society engagement" box with credibility that reviewers recognise.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RRING
  Their largest project (EUR 301K) and a flagship effort to build a global RRI network connecting civil society, industry, and international organizations.
• MUSICA
  A departure from pure RRI — an Innovation Action on offshore multi-use marine platforms where ICoRSA handles public engagement, showing their ability to contribute to hard-technology consortia.