Responsibility in practice: What does (and should) scientific responsibility mean?

The starting point for this talk is recent discussion that has suggested a need to ‘responsibilise’ science. This includes, for instance, policy agendas around responsible research and innovation, scientific social responsibility, or responsible development. Rather than focus on the normative aspects of these debates, I will look at how those working in science characterise their responsibilities, using data from interviews with PIs in Denmark, the UK, and US. Many suggested that there was in fact a surfeit of responsibility in science, not a deficit, with respondents framing themselves as responsible for their science but also for the wellbeing of their group. The practice of responsibility, in these cases, involved caring for science through caring for people.