ALLEA holds its 17th General Assembly at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna | 18/19 April 2016

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The President of Austria, Heinz Fischer, opened the scientific symposium on the freedom of scientific research

Madame de Staël Prize awarded to Rémi Brague by Commissioner Johannes Hahn

The President of Austria, Heinz Fischer, opened the 17th ALLEA General Assembly and welcomed the participants of the scientific symposium “The Freedom of Scientific Research in the Face of Political and Societal Demands” which took place at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna on 18 April 2016.
At the award ceremony in the evening, Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations, awarded the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values to French philosopher Rémi Brague.

The 17th ALLEA General Assembly was opened by Heinz Fischer, President of Austria, and Professor Anton Zeilinger, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences hosting the conference, and Professor Günter Stock, President of ALLEA, with a scientific symposium on The Freedom of Scientific Research in the Face of Political and Societal Demands.

Symposium speakers included ERC President Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, physicist Sir Peter Knight, chair of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council at the UK Ministry of Defence until 2010, as well as the former President of the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice, Professor Irmgard Griss, and former German State Minister for Culture and the Media, Professor Julian Nida-Rümelin. The symposium discussed the increasing interactions between the scientific, political and societal spheres, their risks and opportunities, from a scientific perspective and aimed to contribute to advancing the discourse about the autonomy of scientific research on the European level.

Award ceremony_ALLEA_GA2016In the subsequent festive ceremony for the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, former Austrian Federal Minister for Science and Research, handed over the ALLEA prize to French philosopher Rémi Brague, expressing: “The prize gives humanities a true European framework and helps establishing a distinct European cultural identity! I warmly congratulate today’s laureate Rémi Brague for his distinct contribution and ALLEA for the tireless effort of working on a better Europe.”

The laureate is professor emeritus of Arabic and medieval philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and holds the Romano Guardini chair of philosophy (emeritus) at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Professor Brague’s work provides an invaluable wealth of analysis on the interplay between Judaism, Christianity and Islam as they progressed through history.

“Rémi Brague uses his extensive historical, philosophical and theological expertise to study the question what makes Europe a distinct cultural entity”, stated Professor Günter Stock, ALLEA President and chairman of the prize jury, in his speech to the ceremony’s international audience at the Austrian Academy.

The All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values is co-sponsored by Stiftung Mercator and endowed with 25,000 EUR. The prize is awarded to eminent scholars whose work represents a significant contribution to the cultural and intellectual values of Europe and to the idea of European integration. More information can be found here.

Click here to download the full programme for the symposium and award ceremony.

Business meeting 2016: delegates from more than 40 academies across Europe elect Board for 2016-18 and welcome new members

The symposium and award ceremony were followed by the annual meeting of ALLEA on 19 April 2016. In the course of the meeting, again hosted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the ALLEA Board was (re-) elected for the term 2016-18 and the delegates of ALLEA member academies voted in favour of admitting new members to the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities.

At the annual meeting on 19 April the member academies of ALLEA confirmed in office all re-nominated current Board members and elected three new members for the next term (2016-18). With the election, the ALLEA Board for the next two years includes members from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Israel, Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

In addition to the Board elections, the ALLEA delegates voted to welcome two new full ALLEA members, the Royal Norwegian Society of Science and Letters and the Learned Society of Wales.

Delegates heard reports from the ALLEA Presidency and from chairs and representatives of ALLEA working groups. A focus of the meeting laid on ALLEA’s involvement in the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM  which was discussed in detail. Delegates presented and deliberated on topics currently addressed by their academies across Europe which could well be further elaborated at the European level as a contribution to the science policy advice which academies will provide via their European networks.

More information on the 2016 ALLEA General Assembly, including pictures of the symposium and award ceremony, can soon be found here.

Presidents of the European Academy Networks meet EU Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors

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On 17 March, the Presidents of the five European Academy Networks came together in Brussels to meet with Carlos Moedas, the EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, and with the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors (HLG).

The European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) includes a prominent role for European academies. The Commission is prepared to fund the five Networks, in the context of a Horizon 2020 call, with up to € 6 Million over four years in order to provide independent, evidence-based policy advice from the academies in Europe.

The Consortium, consisting of Academia Europaea, ALLEA, EASAC, Euro-CASE and FEAM uniting over 100 member academies, discussed models of their future cooperation with the Commission and the High Level Group, including the following issues:

  1. A structured dialogue between the Consortium, the HLG and the European Commission should be established in order to discuss and agree on subjects for scientific evidence-based policy advice from the academies;
  2. A timely delivery of advice was agreed, ensuring that scientific results from the academies` work contribute to the opinion-forming and policy-making process;
  3. The consortium will provide support to the HLG for the two topic requests from the European Commission (“Closing the gap between light duty vehicle real-world CO2 emissions and laboratory testing” and “Cybersecurity”).
Group photo, from left to right, in the 1st row: Keith Sequeira and Maria da Graça Carvalho, Senior Advisers to Carlos Moedas, Reinhard Hüttl, Chair of the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE), Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Françoise Meunier, Vice-President of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM), Carlos Moedas, Elvira Fortunato, Julia Slingo and Pearl Dykstra, in the 2nd row, from the 2nd: Sierd Cloetingh, President of the Academia Europaea, Günter Stock, President of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA), Janusz Bujnicki, Wolfgang Burtscher, Deputy Director-General of DG "Research and Innovation" of the EC, behind, Jos van der Meer, President of the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC), Johannes Klumpers, Head of the Unit "Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM)" of DG "Research and Innovation" of the EC, behind, Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General of DG "Research and Innovation" of the EC, Cédric Villani and Henrik C. Wegener

Image: The Presidents of the Consortium with Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the members of the High Level Group; © European Union, 2016, Reference: P-031230/00-10

The meeting was attended by the Presidents of the European Academy Networks Sierd Cloetingh (Academia Europaea), Günter Stock (ALLEA), Jos van der Meer (EASAC), Reinhard F. Hüttl (Euro-CASE), and Françoise Meunier (Vice-President of FEAM). Alongside Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the members of the HLG, the European Commission’s participants included Director General Robert-Jan Smits and the Head of the SAM Unit Johannes Klumpers.

The Presidents of the European Academy Networks re-iterated the importance of truly interdisciplinary approaches towards today’s societal challenges which the academies are in a position to provide. With their scientific expertise, the European academies will contribute to the debates on risks and benefits of new advances, support the formulation of policies, and help enhance public confidence in science policy advice.

Background information on the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM)

The overall objective of the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) is to provide evidence-based advice to the Commission that:

–        is independent of institutional or political interests,

–        brings together evidence and insights from different disciplines and approaches,

–        takes into consideration the specificities of EU policy making (e.g. different national perspectives and principles of subsidiarity),

–        is transparent.

The Scientific Advice Mechanism is designed to complement the current system of in-house scientific advice (e.g. Joint Research Centre, EU research funded through Horizon 2020, EU agencies) and external expertise on certain topics. Read more: http://ec.europa.eu/research/sam/index.cfm

The five European Academy Organisations

–        Academia Europaea: The only European wide Academy with individual membership. It manages   its scholarly interests through a section structure. On election, all members are assigned to a                 section. At the present time there are twenty academic sections. Sections are grouped into one of four classes: Humanities and Arts, Social and related Sciences, Exact Sciences, and Life sciences. www.ae-info.org/

–        ALLEA: The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities brings together almost 60 Academies in more than 40 countries from the Council of Europe region, encompassing the full range of scientific disciplines from the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, to arts and humanities. www.allea.org

–        EASAC: the European Academies Science Advisory Council is the network of the 25 National Science Academies of the EU Member States and of Norway and Switzerland. It provides science-based advice in the areas of Environment, Energy and Biosciences. www.easac.eu

–        Euro-CASE: the organisation of the Academies of Engineering, Applied Sciences and Technology from 22 European countries, with a special focus on innovation, energy and bioeconomy policy. www.euro-case.org

–        FEAM: the Federation of European Academies of Medicine brings together 18 national Academies of medicine and medical sections of national Academies of sciences. www.feam-site.eu

ALLEA Permanent Working Group Science & Ethics met in Stockholm

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The ALLEA permanent Working Group on Science & Ethics held its first meeting in 2016 in the exquisite premises of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities on 18 and 19 February. Following a dinner with academy Vice-President Professor Anders Andrén, the group had a busy schedule for the second day of the meeting, including the election of a new chair and a discussion about a potential update of the ALLEA-ESF European Code of Research Integrity.

Gruppenbild Stockholm 2

The members of the ALLEA Permanent Working Group Science & Ethics

The meeting welcomed the attendance of the Chair of the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, Professor Joseph Straus. He came to Stockholm to offer valuable input on issues surrounding open access and the patentability of plants. Professor Straus’ attendance is a further sign of continued cooperation between ALLEA working groups, a development that is intended to continue in the future.

A particular welcome was also extended to the new members of the working group, Els van Damme from the The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts and Maura Hiney from the Royal Irish Academy.

In one of the first decisions of the day, the Chair of the working group, Professor Göran Hermerén was re-elected to chair the group for another three years. The participants thanked Göran Hermerén for his work and he voiced appreciation for the support and is optimistic the working group will continue to provide work of importance for the scientific community in general and for ALLEA and the member academies in particular.

Another important item on the meeting’s agenda was the consideration of a potential update for the ALLEA European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. The original document was released in 2010 together with the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the members of the group agreed that an update and the inclusion of new issues would be highly desirable. The group will now look into potential amendments to the code, taking into consideration related documents that have been published since the original publication of the code. Results are intended to be presented at the fifth World Conference on Research Integrity in Amsterdam at the end of May 2017.

The next meeting of the working group is planned for autumn 2016 in a yet to be decided location.

Sweden_Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities_photo Philip Ha°kansonQueen Lovisa Ulrika founded the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities 20 March 1753 to promote research and other activities in the humanities, theology, law, and social science disciplines, as well as stewardship of cultural heritage sites.

The Academy’s aims are:

  • to initiate and support international collaboration in the disciplines within the Academy’s field of activities;
  • to publish academic writings in the Academy’s domain;
  • to support deserving researchers and others who have furthered the objectives of the Academy;
  • to issue statements in matters related to the domain of the Academy’s activities

 

The Academy awards three major prizes and several smaller ones.

As a free learned society the academy receives no governmental funding but has through multiple donations built up considerable capital.

The Academy supports extensive conference and symposium activities and funds projects of great academic value that are not given priority by governmental financiers.

To read more about the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities click here.

For more information about the ALLEA Permanent Working Group Science & Ethics click here.

Report from first ALLEA Board meeting in Bucharest

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For the first Board Meeting of 2016, the member of the ALLEA Board convened, on the kind invitation of the Romanian Academy, in Bucharest on 29 February and 1 March. With the ALLEA General Assembly approaching fast, the Board received updates on the current status of preparations. Additionally, the Board was informed about the latest developments with the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) and ALLEA’s role therein.

Romanian academyThe participants were warmly welcomed to the Academy by the Academy’s President Professor Ionel Valentin Vlad. Throughout his career as a physicist, Professor Vlad has always sought to engage in international scientific cooperation and was, thus, highly appreciative of ALLEA’s visit to his Academy. To start off the meeting, ALLEA President Günter Stock informed the participants about recent ALLEA activities and the Board members received an update on the status of membership dues for the year 2015 as well as an outlook for the year 2016. Furthermore, the participantsdiscussed the progress made in the preparation of a European Commission Horizon 2020 call, in cooperation with a consortium of academy networks, to participate in SAM.

On the second day of the meeting the group received an update on the preparation of the ALLEA General Assembly in Vienna in April 2016, with information about the speakers of the symposium and the preparation for the Mme de Staël Prize Award Ceremony, as well as an outlook to the General Assembly 2017 in Budapest.

To conclude the meeting, the Board members discussed upcoming events in 2016, followed by a visit to the library of the Romanian Academy.

The Romanian Academy (Academia Românã) was founded in April 1866 as the Romanian Literary Society. The following year it began its activities, but was now called the Romanian Academic Society. In 2016, the Academy will celebrate its 150th anniversary on 4 April. On behalf of ALLEA and its member academies, ALLEA President Günter Stock will address the audience during the festivities. In 1879, by means of special legislation, it was promulgated as a national institution with the current name of Academia Românã – the Romanian Academy. Form the very beginning the newly founded institution was a national, encyclopedic and active society. It was:

  • National, because it was representative of the culture of not only the territory of what was then Romania, but also those territories under foreign domination by the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. Hence, the 21 founding members were scholars and literati, not only from Wallachia and Moldavia, but also from Transylvania, Banat, Bukovine, Bessarabia (today the Republic of Moldova) and the Balkan Peninsula.
  • Encyclopedic, since its preoccupations embraced all domains of the arts, letters, and sciences.
  •   An active society, because the Romanian Academy was conceived by its founders as a forum of national recognition, but at the same time as an active centre of scientific research and literary and artistic creation.

Click here to read more.

Contact:
125 Calea Victoriei, sector 1
010071 Bucharest
Romania

Phone: +40 21 212 8640
Fax: +40 1 211 6608
http://www.academiaromana.ro

Rémi Brague to be awarded 2016 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values

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Bild RB 2To commemorate his extensive scholarly work on religions in Europe and his reflections on European society, the French philosopher Rémi Brague will be the third scholar to be awarded the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values; a prize initiated by ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities with the friendly support by Stiftung Mercator.

The prize will be awarded to philosopher Professor Rémi Brague by EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, in the premises of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna on 18 April 2016. His research is an important reference point for the comprehensive understanding of the relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Islam today. “Rémi Brague uses his extensive historical, philosophical and theological expertise to study the question what makes Europe a distinct cultural entity”, quotes Professor Günter Stock, ALLEA President and chairman of the prize jury. “He exposes the deep relationship between religion and culture, between the roots and the concepts of today. He is an eminent scholar of medieval theology, philosophy and culture of the three main religions bridging knowledge and beliefs of former times with contemporary problems.”

Rémi Brague, born in Paris in 1947, is professor emeritus of Arabic and medieval philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and holds the Romano Guardini chair of philosophy (emeritus) at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Professor Brague’s work provides an invaluable wealth of analysis on the interplay between Judaism, Christianity and Islam as they progressed through history. His best-known works are Europe, la voie romaine (1992) (E: Eccentric Culture: A Theory of Western Civilization (2009), Au moyen du Moyen Age: Philosophies médiévales en chrétienté, judaïsme et islam  (2006) (E: Legend of the Middle Ages: Philosophical Explorations of Medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (2009) and La Loi de Dieu. Histoire philosophique d’une alliance (2005) (E: Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea (2008) and Du Dieu des Chrétiens et d’un ou deux autres (2008) (E: On the God of the Christians (and on one or two others) (2013).

The All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values is co-sponsored by Stiftung Mercator and endowed with 25,000 EUR. ALLEA established the prize to pay tribute to the boundless intellectual and cultural diversity and richness of Europe, and to highlight how outstanding scholarly work, particularly in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, contributes to the understanding of Europe as a cultural and intellectual entity. The first laureate, Professor Luisa Passerini, received the prize from former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in 2014 to honour her work on European cultural identity. In 2015, Professor Dame Helen Wallace was awarded the prize by EU Commissioner Carlos Moedas for her outstanding work on political studies and policy in Europe.

 

Click here to visit Rémi Brague’s website
Click here for more information about the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values.

SAM High Level Group meets in Brussels for the first time

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On 29 January the seven leading scientists who make up the European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) High Level Group met for the first time in Brussels to discuss issues the advisors will tackle in the near future and to decide on the chairmanship of the Group. The meeting was also attended by Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation as well as Andrus Ansip, the Commission’s Vice-President for the Digital Single Market.

SAM is designed to assist the European Commission with high quality and timely advice. As of the end of the meeting, SAM is officially considered to be fully operational.

Chaired by Carlos Moedas, the first point on the agenda saw the designation of the Chair and Deputy Chair of the group. Henrik C. Wegener was subsequently appointed as Chair, with Elvira Fortunato as Deputy Chair. In the following, the group laid out, how cooperation with the wider scientific community, and especially with European academies and learned societies, will take place. Carlos Moedas was pleased with the outcome and said, the group’s “experience, expertise and plans to consult European Academies of Sciences and the wider scientific community, will make an important independent contribution to science advice for European policymaking”.

The group agreed that its first advice to the Commission will be on the topic of cybersecurity. The given advice is intended to support the Commission’s efforts to build trust in the development of the Digital Single Market.

In addition, the group will also focus on CO2 emissions testing from cars and vans, in order to improve future policies regulating their measurements.
A first document where the group will work out in more detail the scope of its future work will be published in a few weeks.

For more information on the Scientific Advice Mechanism please click here

Turkish academics: ALLEA supports declaration of International Human Rights Network of Academies

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ALLEA fully supports the following declaration of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, as published on 19 January 2016, on the recent developments involving Turkish academics:

‘The International Human Rights  Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (H.R. Network) supports and defends the rights of fellow academics, anywhere in the world, to peacefully express their lawful opinions and concerns. We, the members of the H.R. Network’s Executive Committee, are alarmed by the increasingly repressive and inflammatory reaction by Turkish government leaders, many university officials, and other intolerant individuals toward hundreds of our Turkish colleagues, solely because they publicly expressed humanitarian concerns about the grave crisis in south eastern Turkey. Surely, citizens of a democratic country such as Turkey, and its academics in particular, have a civic duty to remind their government, when deemed necessary, of its obligations to respect Turkey’s constitution, adhere to humanitarian standards for all of its citizens, and give priority to peaceful solutions in crisis situations.

We condemn any threats, false accusations, and incitement to violence against our colleagues by the government of Turkey, which is obligated, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to allow its citizens the “freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” In addition, we urge the government of Turkey to protect the rights of its citizens, to desist from threatening academics who are performing their civic duties by participating in governance, and to call its operatives to order – thereby discouraging hostile action against our colleagues.’

The original declaration of the International Human Rights Networks of Academies and Scholarly Societies can be accessed here.

To download this press release please click here.

ALLEA President Guenter Stock visits Academy of Sciences of Moldova

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Professor Guenter Stock receives honorary doctorate and delivers laureate speech on the role of science in shaping our future.

On 19 January 2016, ALLEA President Guenter Stock visited the Academy of Sciences of Moldova on the kind invitation of academy president Academician Gheorghe Duca in Chisinau. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the academy for his substantial contribution to the promotion of scientific excellence and academic cooperation.

Photo credit: Academy of Sciences of Moldova

Photo credit: Academy of Sciences of Moldova

In his laureate speech Guenter Stock expressed deep gratitude and pride to receive this prestigious award. He reaffirmed ALLEA’s inclusive outlook on Europe, transcending the political boundaries of the EU and highlighted the importance of scientific autonomy and independence from political, ideological and commercial interference. Especially with a view towards the European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism and the role of the academies therein, the autonomy of the science community is now more important than ever in order to provide meaningful, unbiased and evidence-based policy advice. He reiterated the unique ability and responsibility of the scientific community “to spot problems earlier than the general public and politicians” and hence derived the duty to “make our fellow citizens, our politicians aware of what the future holds and how positive solutions could be found”.

A video recording of the speech can be found on the website of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova under this link and to view the picture gallery please click here.

In addition to his laureate speech at the academy, Professor Stock signed the Book of Honorable Guests at the Museum of the academy, and inter alia met with esteemed representatives of the Moldovan scientific and medical community. Professor Stock highly commended a draft concept published by the academy towards ensuring the proper conditions for the improvement of research performance and the creation of premises to attract talented youth in research. In his position as ALLEA President he reaffirmed his offer to support and assist where possible in achieving these laudable goals.

The Academy of Sciences of Moldova (A.S.M.) is the highest scientific forum of the state, and represents the only public institution of national interest in science and innovation sphere, it is a plenipotentiary coordinator of scientific and innovation activity. Also, it is a scientific consultant of the public authorities in the Republic of Moldova and has a Statute of Autonomy and acts on the basis of self-administration principles.

Final ALLEA Board Meeting of 2015 held at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin

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At its fourth and last meeting of the year the ALLEA Board came together in Dublin on the kind invitation of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) from December 7-8. At the meeting, the members of the Board discussed current and future activities as well as received an update on the latest developments concerning ALLEA’s involvement in the new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM).

The attending members were welcomed to the Academy by Professor Mary E Daly, President of the RIA and member of the Irish government’s Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations. The first day of the meeting started with a recap by Professor Stock on ALLEA’s recent activities including the announcement of  a follow-up project to the “Survey and Analysis on Academies SSH research in Europe” which was published earlier this year. Further updates on the status of preparations for the 2016 General Assembly at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the 2016 Mme de Staël Prize for Cultural Values as well as the 2017 General Assembly to be held jointly with Academia Europaea at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences were also provided.

The Royal irish Academy

The Royal irish Academy

On December 8, the members of the Board reconvened to hear an update on the status of the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) as well as ALLEA’s participation in the SAM Horizon 2020 call in cooperation with a new consortium of European academy organisations.

The meeting concluded with an overview of upcoming events in the next year, starting with the first Board Meeting of 2016 in Bucharest. Following the conclusion of the Board meeting, the members of the Board held a joint meeting with the Chairs of the ALLEA Working Groups.

The Royal Irish Academy champions Irish academic research. One of its principal roles is to identify and recognise Ireland’s world class researchers. It supports excellent scholarship and promotes awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives.

The Academy is an all-island independent forum that brings together the worlds of academia, government and industry, to address issues of mutual interest through major outreach events and legacy projects. Drawing on the expertise of its Members, the Academy makes a significant contribution to public debate and public policy formation on issues in science, technology and culture. The Academy leads important national research projects, particularly in areas relating to Ireland and its heritage. In addition, the Academy represents the world of Irish learning internationally, maintains and enhances a unique globally-recognised library and is a leading academic publisher.

Click here to read more.

Contact:
19 Dawson Street
Dublin
Ireland

Phone: +353 1 676 2570
Fax: +353 1 676 23 46
http://www.ria.ie

Taking stock: The Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020

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ALLEA participates in Meeting between DG Research and Stakeholders in SSH Research

On 2 December 2015, ALLEA participated in the second external stakeholder workshop on the Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020. The invitation-only workshop gathered a limited number of eminent experts from European and international scientific organisations active in the fields of social sciences and humanities as well as representatives from the European Commission, particularly from its Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. ALLEA was represented by Professor John Bell, Chair of the ALLEA Working Group on Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Fellow of the British Academy.

The meeting followed up on a first workshop on “Embedding Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) in Horizon 2020” held in Brussels in November 2014. With these workshops, the Commission intends to receive feedback from various involved SSH stakeholders on how to further improve the integration of research in the social sciences and humanities in Horizon 2020. In 2014, participants were invited to provide feedback on the quality of the integration of SSH in the first calls of Horizon 2020. Furthermore, they provided feedback on how to further improve true interdisciplinarity in the calls, with the SSH as an integral part of the research projects to be funded. This year’s workshop focussed on a discussion around the recently published Commission Monitoring Report on the integration of Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020 in the first calls for proposals of Horizon 2020.

The invited members of the scientific community concluded that considerable progress had been made in improving the integration of SSH. However, several Societal Challenges would still benefit from further integration while other areas even show a worrisome lack of SSH input at all. In agreement with the Commission’s conclusion that more efforts and actions are still required for the SSH to become an integral part of the development process for new research questions, the stakeholders identified several areas of improvement to strengthen the role of SSH in Horizon 2020 calls. It was noted that experts with SSH expertise constituted only a minority within H2020 Expert Advisory Groups as well as among proposal evaluators. In addition, Societal Challenges that would naturally require a stronger inclusion of Humanities subjects too often show low levels of inclusion (SC 6&7). In terms of geographic distribution, the participants raised concerns that countries from Central and Eastern Europe still show very low participation rates and project coordination is most often awarded to countries with strong infrastructure to support the preparation of bids.

In its concluding remarks the Commission reaffirmed its plans to continue the publication of an annual monitoring report. In addition, the importance of deeper SSH inclusion in “Societal Challenges” was underlined and concrete actions were highlighted to improve the integration of SSH in Horizon 2020. The Commission committed to continuing the fruitful and constructive exchange with the SSH stakeholder community and announced that the next stakeholder meeting will be held in June 2016.