Fostering cooperation and integration between SSH and STEM research and innovation in the EU

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Greater integration of SSH and STEM^[1] research and innovation in R&I initiatives funded at EU level, national and/or regional level, as well as in R&I policies by promoting dialogue, mutual learning and strategic cooperation among research funders and policy makers in the EU.
• Developing and maintaining a new, common, comprehensive ‘Monitoring and Impact Evaluation Framework’ for SSH integration in current and future EU R&I initiatives.

Enhanced facilitation of knowledge exploitation and support to the cooperation between projects and stakeholders, as well as R&I policies involved in projects and other types of cross-border networks dealing with SSH and STEM research and innovation.

Scope:

As mentioned in the Report ‘Align, Act, Accelerate: Research, Technology and Innovation to boost European Competitiveness’^[2], European RD&I can provide a new understanding of and solutions to tackle societal challenges. Social sciences and humanities (SSH) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) improve the research activities, outcomes and impacts of Horizon Europe, because they enable a greater understanding of societal and competitiveness benefits. The cooperation of SSH and STEM in through trans- and interdisciplinary science is part of a science that is excellent, as it not only delivers excellence in the technical aspects, but also in taking account different societal needs. Thus, there is need for a leading role at European level for this cooperation.

Proposals are expected to create an SSH-STEM Action, that focusses on SSH-STEM monitoring, SSH-STEM facilitation and SSH-STEM promotion, at European level, which should also include all the following aspects:

1. Monitoring:

Monitoring is a major aspect of the essential activities^[3].

The action should create a new strategy in the first year of the project with the aim to develop and to monitor the SSH-STEM research cooperation (e.g. A.I. search tools). This monitoring strategy should meet the following requirements:

• Applicants should provide a clear justification of what significant steps forward they propose regarding methodology compared to previous reporting on SSH-STEM collaboration (see relevant reports), data management, analytical methods, data collection. Robust open data driven approaches are strongly encouraged.
• Applicants should describe what steps they will undertake to ensure the delivery of reporting on a yearly basis, which should include the data collection, data analysis, and interpretation of SSH-STEM related cooperation data (in EU-funded projects in Horizon Europe where there is SSH-STEM cooperation).

2. Facilitation and promotion:

Applicants should develop guidelines for SSH-STEM cooperation and support stakeholders in their projects when SSH-STEM cooperation is possible within the project, with a focus on increasing the quality and depth of cooperation and applying cooperation where most relevant. Applicants are encouraged to propose approaches, such as training to researchers on how to best integrate either STEM or SSH into their research. In addition, applicants should take into account the collaboration within SSH sciences on their own, as well as attention for not only quantitative SSH disciplines, but also qualitative SSH.

The action should organize an annual event showcasing SSH and STEM cooperation; with exchanges with / for policy makers, best practice examples and showcasing funded projects/ programs at EU, national and other levels.

The action is also expected to provide a quantitative and qualitative R&D evidence base on how to ensure that policies (including funding) aimed at stimulating research & innovation are appropriate for the sectors which have the greatest potential to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness. Applicants should propose evaluation metrics for SSH-STEM cooperation within research projects.

3. SSH/ STEM Science for Policy:

An important part of promotion is that the action acts as an SSH/ Science for policy exchange as well, providing the European Commission with feedback and advice on SSH-STEM cooperation, and informing the European Commission of the latest developments in SSH-STEM cooperation (which is why the inclusion of SSH experts is of the upmost importance).

The action is expected to be a forum that promotes dialogue and cooperation among research funders and policy makers in the EU (linked to the European Research Area) and beyond to further the integration of SSH and STEM in EU-funded R&I initiatives.

The action should provide monitoring guidance in SSH and STEM cooperation in R&I programmes at national/regional and European level.

The consortium should contribute to the priorities of the European Research Area, the EU Competitiveness Compass to strengthen the EU competitiveness and resilience. The consortium is expected to liaise with the two Cluster 2 co-funded European Partnerships and look into successful SSH integration projects and initiatives funded at EU level.

The action should recognize the diversity within SSH disciplines and their differing levels of integration with STEM. It should include targeted strategies to increase humanities’ participation alongside qualitative and quantitative social sciences to ensure balanced SSH representation. STEM domain prioritization should be driven by thematic relevance and feasibility for SSH cooperation.

Projects should adopt a gender-sensitive and intersectional approach when integrating SSH and STEM. This means considering a variety of societal needs and perspectives to ensure inclusivity and equality in research and innovation in EU and national R&I policies.

[1] SSH integration involves actively supporting interdisciplinary research and innovation that combines SSH with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to better address complex challenges such as climate change, public health issues, and technological innovation.

[2] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2f9fc221-86bb-11ef-a67d-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

[3] e.g. see the report ‘Integration of social sciences and humanities in Horizon 2020’ (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/16b7df93-82b3-…) and the ‘Horizon Europe Integration’-report for 2021-2023 (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6cf8db13-62bb-…).