University group says EU R&D programme would benefit from better integration of SSAH disciplines
The EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme needs to better integrate the full breadth of social sciences, arts and humanities disciplines to fulfil its potential, a university group has warned.
“It is critical that Horizon Europe benefits from the broadest possible range of academic perspectives and methodologies, appropriate to the challenge to be addressed,” the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities said in an opinion paper it published on 31 January.
It said that “a more systematic and clear approach is needed to ensure the best possible implementation” of this integration of SSAH disciplines.
In the past, EU R&D programmes have “[sold] short” the capacity of SSAH disciplines to contribute to solving societal challenges, the Guild said.
It called for “more explicit references to the significance and roles of the contributions from SSAH” in Horizon Europe to ensure that consortia applying to the second pillar, focused on societal challenges and industrial competitiveness, include partners with SSAH expertise.
In addition, it reiterated a call for an independent expert group to evaluate the integration of SSAH into Horizon Europe and advise the European Commission on improvements.
The Guild praised what it said was “the strong support provided” to SSAH in the first pillar of Horizon Europe, focused on research excellence, saying it enables researchers to tackle cultural, societal or policy challenges in a self-directed way.
But it said the strategic orientations set by politicians for the second pillar should provide a clear framework for SSAH collaboration, and that there should be consistency but also flexibility in these orientations to help facilitate such work.