An exploratory thematic review of the emerging field of RRI education

This exploratory thematic review examines the emerging landscape of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) education. It reviews 17 peer-reviewed studies published over the past two decades, using the PRISMA methodology. These studies were categorized into four themes to identify recurring successes and obstacles. The review highlights several successful practices, including the contextualization of RRI, promotion of reflexivity, participatory methods, interdisciplinary collaboration, and instances of institutional integration. Simultaneously, it uncovers persistent obstacles such as conceptual ambiguity, institutional resistance, scalability limitations, and the difficulty of translating abstract RRI principles into measurable competencies. The relations between some of these obstacles suggests a vicious reinforcing cycle that hinders progress in RRI education. We argue that resolving conceptual and definitional ambiguities could foster a more coherent and sustainable RRI education.