Social scientists urged to seize the initiative
European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik has told a conference of social sciences and humanities researchers to be more bold in their efforts to integrate themselves into the EU's research framework programmes. Speaking at the opening session of the two-day event in Brussels on December 12, Mr Potocnik said that all research in the framework programmes should have a social sciences and humanities (SSH) component, but admitted that putting this into practice would not be an easy task. '[I]t will not happen in a top-down manner,' he warned delegates. 'I rather believe that you, as social scientists, have to take that responsibility into your hands [...]. By not doing so, you will remain as you are, not even being accepted to discuss today's important issues.' The event, entitled 'Social sciences and the humanities in Europe', was the first major conference organised by the Commission on SSH themselves, rather than on the subjects to which they traditionally contribute. This, said the Commissioner, reflected the development that has been achieved in the social sciences and the fact that SSH are vital for understanding social change and informing policy making. As well as providing input on the social, economic and political dimensions of other areas of EU research, SSH researchers will also have their own dedicated theme under the Commission's proposals for the Seventh Framework Programme. This will include completely new issues for EU research, such as Europe in the world, lifestyles and families and European integration. 'The whole aim of the theme is interdisciplinarity,' explained Mr Potocnik. 'Of course, interdisciplinarity is not always the solution. But I am convinced that getting know what other disciplines have to say on the subject is not only an intellectual obligation for all social scientists, it brings new ideas, new concepts, new metaphors that help social sciences develop.' The Commissioner highlighted the contribution that SSH must make to policy making, and urged researchers to be more daring when addressing public policies in contemporary issues. 'We have many publications but too much is 'normal science' and not enough is bold enough to break new grounds and test new ideas,' he said. This point was also made by Helga Nowotny, chair of the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB) and Professor of Social Studies of Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. 'My message to you is: be more proactive, mobilise and organise, and be bold,' she said. As a member of its Scientific Council, Professor Nowotny added that the proposed European Research Council (ERC) will offer social scientists many new opportunities. 'But it's up to you to define what constitutes 'frontier research' in the social sciences and humanities.' SSH researchers shouldn't become discouraged if scientists from other disciplines only ever seem to be interested in their work on the social impact of new technologies, for example, stressed Professor Nowotny. 'You have much to contribute, as you help us all to see ourselves more clearly. Ideas still matter, and so do people [...] so draft your own research agenda and sell it.' Christopher Whelan, current chair of the standing committee for the social sciences of the European Science Foundation (ESF), said that the EU offers an 'extraordinary natural laboratory' for the social sciences, but added: 'We need certain resources and conditions to be in place, such as comparable data and sustained programmes and funding.' Professor Whelan pointed to the quality of the datasets compiled by the European Social Survey, recent winners of the EU Descartes Prize, but regretted that much of Europe's data could not match its quality. 'We want to make ESS data the standard, not the exception, as without these data we will be trying to answer crucial questions with one hand tied behind our backs,' he said. Echoing the point made by Commissioner Potocnik, Professor Whelan stressed that in order to justify the required public investment in comparative data ahead of investments in other scientific infrastructures, social scientists must prove their value by addressing pressing policy demands. 'We have been timid in the social sciences, and a process of consolidation and development is still needed, perhaps, before we can play with the big boys,' he concluded.