The European Alliance of Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH) has published its response to the consultation on the past, present and future of the European research and innovation programmes 2014-2027.
The EASSH response is based on the feedback collected from its 70 members, representing European-wide disciplinary associations, universities and the private sector with a specific interest in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). This paper includes detailed replies to the four parts of the Commission’s consultation: the Horizon 2020 evaluation, the mid-term evaluation of Horizon Europe, the strategic plan of Horizon Europe for 2025-2027, and the lessons learnt and messages for the future framework programme.
The Association’s recommendations for the next edition of the European R&I programme are as follows:
- A solid and strong focus on well-being and welfare and therefore on fundamental research into social and cultural phenomena, social data, and cross borders social policies to strengthen provisions for a diverse Europe.
- The focus on a human-centred approach must be retained and strengthened in all types of research questions across the programme. This requires having a dedicated space to address issues related to an ever-changing European society, using specific methods and approaches, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and historical and contextual studies typical of social sciences and humanities disciplines.
- A redefinition of the concept of integration through the call for experts’ contribution in the design of the programme, also focussing on harvesting fundamental research results to accelerate responses to current and unforeseen crises. It is fundamental that a new programme invests in relevant socio-economic, historical, and legal frameworks. Also, it is important to devise a mechanism to monitor interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity across the whole programme based on understanding researchers and their contributions.
- Achieving full participation of SSH scholars in the High-Level Group of experts, strategic programming committees, in calls and topic-drafting teams to identify human-centric research questions, as well as in evaluation panels. Crucial expertise is needed to achieve a full assessment of the research and innovation impact on societies and individuals.