Horizon 2020’s Final Monitoring Report unleashes the importance of integrating social sciences and humanities in research and innovation programmes.
Horizon 2020, the EU’s previous Framework Programme from 2014–2020, has notably integrated social sciences and humanities (SSH) to address Europe’s complex societal challenges. The European Commission published its final Monitoring Report, which reviews the impact of this integration, revealing both successes and areas for future enhancement. This report also feeds the final evaluation of Horizon 2020, which should be published by the end of 2023.
The inclusion of SSH in Horizon 2020 was a deliberate strategy to ensure that technological progress aligns with the social fabric of Europe. The involvement of SSH’s partners in project consortia was substantial, with participation rates between 71% and 86% for SSH-flagged topics. Financially, this translated to more than a fifth of Horizon 2020’s budget being dedicated to projects within SSH disciplines. This investment reflects a paradigm shift in the EU’s approach to funding research, acknowledging the importance of human-centric innovation.
Under the societal challenges framework, specific attention was given to the challenge of ‘Europe in a changing world – inclusive innovative and reflective societies’, in which SSH partners received 64% of its overall budget. However, the distribution of SSH integration across other challenges was uneven, with fields like space and industrial technologies – such as bio- or nanotechnologies – showing less SSH involvement.
When assessing by country, the report indicates a need for a more balanced distribution of funds, advocating for enhanced participation of SSH researchers from all EU Member States since a strong geographical concentration in favour of the EU-15 Member States is observed. Similarly, there is a call to diversify the distribution of projects within the different SSH disciplines since specialists in the humanities and the arts, despite it being a broad scientific field, were relatively under-represented, with a share of 5%. At the same time, economics, political science, public administration, and law experts represented 52% of all SSH experts involved in projects under SSH-flagged topics.
Nevertheless, the report also notes that more than half of the projects under SSH-flagged topics achieved satisfactory SSH integration. This is a testament to the added value of SSH disciplines in enriching research projects with diverse perspectives and expertise.
Regarding societal impact, the report underscores SSH’s role in informing policy, particularly in areas like climate change and artificial intelligence. For instance, SSH research can guide the creation of policies that factor in social equity and behavioural change for climate action, as well as ethical frameworks for the responsible development of AI.
Looking ahead, the report serves as a guiding document for Horizon Europe, accentuating the necessity of interdisciplinarity for societal impact. The findings from Horizon 2020 are poised to influence the future of R&I, emphasising SSH to support societal and technological advancements.
In conclusion, the integration of SSH into Horizon 2020 has been a critical and innovative approach, fostering a research ecosystem attuned to society’s needs and well-being. The success of Horizon 2020 in integrating SSH provides a hopeful outlook for Horizon Europe and the next Framework Programme (FP10), where continued and enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for addressing the multifaceted challenges of our times.