CONFERENCEAlongside the scientific activities, the project aims to research social cohesion and civic society, better understanding and strengthening the cohesion of Latvian society. The primary aim of this collaboration is to facilitate direct engagement and a deep dive into the issues at hand by involving a hands-on approach, proximity to the core experiences, and establishing meaningful contact with the public. This serves as a vital conduit, allowing our scientific teams to channel their insights and engage in a reciprocal exchange of knowledge with the community. This reciprocal exchange enriches our research, ensuring that open science principles inform and guide our scientific decision-making processes. Thus the project researchers and experts not only communicate scientific results to the public and specialists in various fields, but they also provide opportunities for the public to engage in achieving the project’s goals. This participation includes taking part in different activities, sharing opinions, and expressing experiences.
Collaboration areas include the neighbourhood of Čiekurkalns in Riga, the regional centre Liepaja - Jaunliepāja, and the smaller regional town Gulbene. Public involvement is essential to the activity, disseminating information through newspapers, surveys, community meetings, and public presentations. This tests activities by establishing a support platform to encourage and facilitate the participation of community members.
As the lead expert of the "Open Science" group, Kaspars Lielgalvis states: “Together with culture activist Linda Ulāne from Liepāja and Herta Pugača from Gulbene parish forests, within the framework of this project, we will try to activate the cultural life in one of Riga's micro-districts – Čiekurkalns, in Jaunliepāja area in Liepāja and Gulbene city and parish. We will use the method developed within Urb Cultural Planning project. Together with local residents, we collect information about local cultural opportunities and try to inform every member of society about it. We ask their interests. We will introduce residents to each other according to their interests and support them in starting new cultural activities. Together with the researchers, we observe what works and what does not.”
It is worth mentioning that the “Open Science" group has expanded, and citizen-led activities have become more frequently organized.