Negotiations start on first FP7 social science and science in society projects
Negotiations are underway for the first projects to be funded under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Science in Society (SiS) thematic areas of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Both calls were launched on 22 December 2006, and their deadlines were in May 2007. Since then teams of independent experts have been assisting the European Commission in evaluating the project proposals. A total of 531 project proposals were submitted under the SSH call, of which 269 were highly rated by the experts. The SiS call attracted 182 proposals, of which 83 were highly rated. Contract negotiations are getting underway for both calls and it is expected that the first grant agreements will be concluded by the end of the year. The total number of projects funded will depend on the available budget, the outcome of negotiations and the completion of the formal procedures.