Whether it is about climate, energy, food supply or security,
the societal challenges enveloping us are real and require serious
attention. Research from and across many fields will be needed
to deliver better understanding leading to better solutions, not
only from the "hard" sciences but crucially also from the
social/behavioural sciences and the humanities (SSH). Modern
society depends on the whole range and interconnectedness of
knowledge rather than on a restricted number of academic
disciplines.
LERU welcomes the fact that the European Commission has included
societal challenges research as one of three pillars in the EU's
next research funding programme Horizon 2020. But the
Commission has to make sure that SSH research is adequately
represented in all the societal challenges proposed for Horizon
2020. In other words, SSH research is equally important in the
"health, demographic change and wellbeing", the "smart, green and
integrated transport" and other challenges. It should not be
relegated to the "inclusive, innovative and secure societies"
challenge.
Societal impact
To be clear, this is not to argue that SSH should be at the
service of other research fields. SSH research generates new
insights which have a deep and intrinsic value. Therefore, the
Commission should also take care to fund SSH research generously
within the 'excellence in the science base' pillar of Horizon 2020,
which supports frontier research aimed at producing new knowledge
without a primary regard for societal impact.
In the
paper LERU examines the six (probably to become seven)
Horizon 2020 societal challenges, explains how SSH research is
relevant to each of them and suggests which SSH questions and lines
of research can or should be pursued in these societal
challenges.
To give but one example, a sustainable climate policy has to
address such fundamental "human" questions as why people should be
motivated to opt for sustainable policies if they have far reaching
consequences on their life style, or how conflicts can be resolved
between individual rights expectations in a liberal society and the
needs of sustainable policies. To ensure the success of Horizon
2020, it is essential that SSH researchers are fully engaged and
involved in the whole process right from the start, from agenda
setting and problem formulation to project decisions and
implementation, in all societal challenges.
LERU makes a number of related recommendations to
strengthen SSH research at a European level:
- National research funding organisations should be encouraged to
continue creating common funds for cross-border SSH research;
- European research infrastructure consortia should accommodate
SSH in a creative way, with special attention for digital
infrastructures;
- International collaboration in "small or threatened
disciplines" (for some fields of, but by no means limited to, the
Humanities) should be promoted to strengthen them;
- A European SSH platform should be created to develop and update
SSH research agendas; it should be led by leading SSH
researchers.
In a fast changing world in which Europe will continue to
encounter new challenges, SSH research is of vital importance to
enable European societies to think critically, to remain tolerant
and to become more innovative and inclusive.