Building upon decades of successful partnerships, CIVICA institutions joined forces to reaffirm the vital role of European social sciences in educating future generations and producing research connected to the most pressing challenges across Europe and the world. CIVICA covers a series of integrated education and research activities focused on four key topics: Societies in Transition – Crises of Earth; Democracy in the 21st Century; Europe Revisited; and Data-Driven Technologies for the Social Sciences.
Funded under Horizon 2020’s Science with and for Society (SwafS) call, CIVICA Research was launched in January 2021 with the aim of endowing CIVICA with the instruments of an ambitious and innovative research strategy and creating a joint, long-term research environment for the alliance.
Divided into 7 work packages, CIVICA Research explored institutional transformation and sought to effect change through: designing and implementing a common, strategic research agenda (WP1), advancing human capital and academic skills (WP2), developing shared research and innovation ecosystems (WP3), building an ambitious Open Science action plan (WP4), exploring joint research infrastructures and synergies within and outside CIVICA (WP5), coordination and management (WP6), and implementing communication and dissemination activities (WP7).
The CIVICA Research pilot phase concentrated on experimentation, dedicating resources to initiate a variety of new activities and test innovative forms of inter-institutional cooperation, which allowed partners to deepen their understanding of one another and better identify needs in order to sharpen the alliance’s focus on achievable and necessary priorities.
CIVICA Research proved that it can both successfully contribute to advancing institutional transformation and capacity building, as well as foster tangible and engaging academic activities focused on excellence. Furthermore, the project laid a vital groundwork for realising CIVICA's vision of establishing a research-driven European University of Social Sciences, offering a robust framework for alliance members to strategize on supporting and institutionalising research within the CIVICA over the long term. Although the CIVICA Research project has concluded, its impact and the insights gained will persist, guiding the alliance's future endeavours within research and ensuring a lasting legacy.
