Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SSH CENTRE (Social Sciences and Humanities for Climate, Energy aNd Transport Research Excellence)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2023-10-31
SSH CENTRE is setup around five objectives, and the accompanying rationales:
- OBJECTIVE 1: Strengthen the development and use of socially innovative solutions in order to accelerate just transitions to carbon neutrality.
Rationale: There is increasing recognition that addressing climate change will involve transforming societies . However, policy attention has for decades focussed on technical targets, meaning social solutions have been under-utilised. Only 0.12% of funding for climate change was directed to SSH research between 1990 and 2018. A shift towards in-depth incorporation of SSH solutions (including questions related to governance, justice and social organisation) requires active coordination. Projects which work to generate socially innovative solutions, across the diversity of SSH, will be best placed to do this.
- OBJECTIVE 2: Strengthen interdisciplinary research in HEU Cluster 5, stimulating effective collaborations between transition-focussed SSH and STEM.
Rationale: Much has been done to bring SSH communities together, however a persistent area of fragmentation is between transition-focused SSH and STEM. Academic structures often prevent these communities working together meaningfully, leading to limited good practice. Collaborations rarely cross epistemic boundaries (e.g. favouring SSH approaches closest to STEM), and often still place one discipline in a dominant position (e.g. SSH in the service of STEM). It is vital to recognise how this can intersect with other forms of fragmentation (e.g. geographies) to mean certain groups are very significantly under-represented, e.g. SSH from CEE regions.
- OBJECTIVE 3:
Rationale: Routes for STEM advice into policy, e.g. via EU bodies such as the SET-Plan and HEU Partnerships, are much more established than those for SSH and transdisciplinary advice. Across these programmes, policymakers need targeted and actionable advice built on sound evidence; this includes access to the latest, novel insights beyond the ‘same old’ ideas. To strengthen SSH advice mechanisms we need examples of best practice brokering between research and policy, including building institutional capacities across all policy actors.
- OBJECTIVE 4:
Rationale: Despite increasing policy attention on ‘engagement’, it is understood in multiple ways, and is often implemented as one-way communication, rather than meaningfully influencing outcomes. SSH scholars working at the forefront of novel engagement methods, recognise that citizens are not the only relevant stakeholder group, with professional engagement also vital. Multiple characteristics (e.g. across geography, gender, career stage) must be considered for inclusive engagement.
- OBJECTIVE 5:
Rationale: Efforts have been made in previous Framework Programmes to mainstream SSH across topics, however this has rarely resulted in SSH leading interdisciplinary SSH-STEM collaborations. More work is needed to connect and empower SSH experts from right across Europe, supporting them in taking on these roles in future HEU projects. There is also opportunity for SSH communities to come together to further test and develop Open (Social) Science practices.
- OBJECTIVE 1: Strengthen the development and use of socially innovative solutions in order to accelerate just transitions to carbon neutrality.
Rationale: There is increasing recognition that addressing climate change will involve transforming societies . However, policy attention has for decades focussed on technical targets, meaning social solutions have been under-utilised. Only 0.12% of funding for climate change was directed to SSH research between 1990 and 2018. A shift towards in-depth incorporation of SSH solutions (including questions related to governance, justice and social organisation) requires active coordination. Projects which work to generate socially innovative solutions, across the diversity of SSH, will be best placed to do this.
- OBJECTIVE 2: Strengthen interdisciplinary research in HEU Cluster 5, stimulating effective collaborations between transition-focussed SSH and STEM.
Rationale: Much has been done to bring SSH communities together, however a persistent area of fragmentation is between transition-focused SSH and STEM. Academic structures often prevent these communities working together meaningfully, leading to limited good practice. Collaborations rarely cross epistemic boundaries (e.g. favouring SSH approaches closest to STEM), and often still place one discipline in a dominant position (e.g. SSH in the service of STEM). It is vital to recognise how this can intersect with other forms of fragmentation (e.g. geographies) to mean certain groups are very significantly under-represented, e.g. SSH from CEE regions.
- OBJECTIVE 3:
Rationale: Routes for STEM advice into policy, e.g. via EU bodies such as the SET-Plan and HEU Partnerships, are much more established than those for SSH and transdisciplinary advice. Across these programmes, policymakers need targeted and actionable advice built on sound evidence; this includes access to the latest, novel insights beyond the ‘same old’ ideas. To strengthen SSH advice mechanisms we need examples of best practice brokering between research and policy, including building institutional capacities across all policy actors.
- OBJECTIVE 4:
Rationale: Despite increasing policy attention on ‘engagement’, it is understood in multiple ways, and is often implemented as one-way communication, rather than meaningfully influencing outcomes. SSH scholars working at the forefront of novel engagement methods, recognise that citizens are not the only relevant stakeholder group, with professional engagement also vital. Multiple characteristics (e.g. across geography, gender, career stage) must be considered for inclusive engagement.
- OBJECTIVE 5:
Rationale: Efforts have been made in previous Framework Programmes to mainstream SSH across topics, however this has rarely resulted in SSH leading interdisciplinary SSH-STEM collaborations. More work is needed to connect and empower SSH experts from right across Europe, supporting them in taking on these roles in future HEU projects. There is also opportunity for SSH communities to come together to further test and develop Open (Social) Science practices.
The project began with a scoping phase, which included: (i) the creation of a toolbox of 12 stakeholder engagement methods, to signal and illustrate how engagement is not only one method; (ii) a stakeholder landscape assessment, based around interviews with key research and innovation stakeholders, as well as the creation of literature briefs on state-of-the-art SSH developments; and (iii) the development of a Position Statement that directly tackled the inequalities in SSH between the North/West and South/East European geographies, based on a Call for Evidence survey and two workshops.
Using these foundations, the projects focuses on three interventions. First, we are funding SSH and STEM research communities to innovatively come together to create EU Green Deal policy advice on relevant climate/energy/mobility matters. This will lead to the production of three open access books, which present and substantiate ~30 EU policy recommendations. Second, we are training 30 Europe-based SSH researchers on how to broker SSH knowledge, particularly in the face of local municipality-defined climate/energy/mobility challenges. This involves a close partnership with six Energy Cities hubs and thus their municipality colleagues. Third, we have a series of evaluation and support activities focused distinctly on European Commission Research and Innovation policymaking, namely associated with the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan); the Horizon Europe Missions; and the Horizon Europe Partnerships. This includes both analytical and interpretative work of the relevant EC policy documents, and also direct dialogue with relevant EC policy actors.
Using these foundations, the projects focuses on three interventions. First, we are funding SSH and STEM research communities to innovatively come together to create EU Green Deal policy advice on relevant climate/energy/mobility matters. This will lead to the production of three open access books, which present and substantiate ~30 EU policy recommendations. Second, we are training 30 Europe-based SSH researchers on how to broker SSH knowledge, particularly in the face of local municipality-defined climate/energy/mobility challenges. This involves a close partnership with six Energy Cities hubs and thus their municipality colleagues. Third, we have a series of evaluation and support activities focused distinctly on European Commission Research and Innovation policymaking, namely associated with the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan); the Horizon Europe Missions; and the Horizon Europe Partnerships. This includes both analytical and interpretative work of the relevant EC policy documents, and also direct dialogue with relevant EC policy actors.
The project is based on five state-of-the-art concepts:
- CONCEPT 1: Targeting transdisciplinarity to foster dialogue and innovation beyond academia
Complex and multi-faceted problems such as climate-energy-mobility transitions need approaches that engage with a plurality of stakeholders, in particular being sure to reflect the experiential and tangible learning of non-academic stakeholders. It is therefore vital to go far beyond simply collecting a range of disciplinary viewpoints (multidisciplinarity).
- CONCEPT 2: Facilitating safe spaces for epistemic experimentation in order to provide innovative solutions
‘Epistemic cultures’ describes how different research fields and sectors have different processes, practices and elements which come together and shape the creation of knowledge. As STEM and the natural sciences have received more funding and attention to date than SSH, the climate-energy-mobility solutions that are currently proposed and implemented tend to reflect a relatively narrow range of epistemic cultures.
- CONCEPT 3: Developing knowledge brokerage capacities to translate SSH knowledge into policy action
The (social) science-policy interface needs to be navigated skillfully: both in terms of accessing relevant actors, as well as communicating successfully between different cultures. This is a role taken on by intermediaries, also known as ‘knowledge brokers’, who can support transition processes by connecting different parts of the system.
- CONCEPT 4: Recognising engagement as the power to influence strategy
SSH CENTRE goes beyond tokenistic views of engagement – which may seek stakeholder views but then do nothing with that new knowledge – instead we define true engagement as the ability to influence outcomes
- CONCEPT 1: Targeting transdisciplinarity to foster dialogue and innovation beyond academia
Complex and multi-faceted problems such as climate-energy-mobility transitions need approaches that engage with a plurality of stakeholders, in particular being sure to reflect the experiential and tangible learning of non-academic stakeholders. It is therefore vital to go far beyond simply collecting a range of disciplinary viewpoints (multidisciplinarity).
- CONCEPT 2: Facilitating safe spaces for epistemic experimentation in order to provide innovative solutions
‘Epistemic cultures’ describes how different research fields and sectors have different processes, practices and elements which come together and shape the creation of knowledge. As STEM and the natural sciences have received more funding and attention to date than SSH, the climate-energy-mobility solutions that are currently proposed and implemented tend to reflect a relatively narrow range of epistemic cultures.
- CONCEPT 3: Developing knowledge brokerage capacities to translate SSH knowledge into policy action
The (social) science-policy interface needs to be navigated skillfully: both in terms of accessing relevant actors, as well as communicating successfully between different cultures. This is a role taken on by intermediaries, also known as ‘knowledge brokers’, who can support transition processes by connecting different parts of the system.
- CONCEPT 4: Recognising engagement as the power to influence strategy
SSH CENTRE goes beyond tokenistic views of engagement – which may seek stakeholder views but then do nothing with that new knowledge – instead we define true engagement as the ability to influence outcomes