"#StrongerTogether: SSAH and the Future of Evidence-Informed Policymaking"

Project Information

STEP

Grant agreement ID: 101180096

DOI

10.3030/101180096

Project closed

EC signature date 24 June 2024

Start date 13 February 2024

End date 12 January 2025

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 341 500,00

EU contribution

€ 300 000,00

Coordinated by

SERVICE PUBLIC FEDERAL DE PROGRAMMATION POLITIQUE SCIENTIFIQUE
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STEP (#StrongerTogether: SSAH and the Future of Evidence-Informed Policymaking)

Reporting period: 2024-02-13 to 2025-01-12

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Context
The STEP Conference is an expert conference under Belgian Presidency of the Union organized under the Horizon Europe-funded project, which aims to bridge the gap between research and policymaking in Europe. The conference emerges in a time of increasing societal complexity, where the need for evidence-informed policy has never been greater. Challenges such as climate change, digital transformation, migration, diplomatic threats and social inequalities demand nuanced and context-aware policy solutions that integrate insights from Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts (SSHA).

While science-policy interfaces have been steadily evolving, gaps remain in how evidence—particularly from SSHA disciplines—is incorporated into policymaking processes. The STEP Conference addresses this by providing a dedicated moment of exchange between the concerned main players: policymakers who demand evidence, scientists who provide evidence and the in-between institutions who link the two. The conference offers a dynamic and engaging moment of discussions around the main topics of this larger debate. It contributes to an increasing movement of raising EIPM higher on the European and national agendas.

The STEP Conference is taking place in Brussels and gather a wide range of stakeholders from the EU and beyond, including policymakers, researchers, civil society actors, and knowledge brokers.

Overall Objectives
Strengthen collaboration between policy and research communities
Foster dialogue and mutual understanding between those who generate evidence and those who use it, particularly at the EU and national levels.

Promote the role of SSHA in evidence-informed policymaking
Highlight the value and contribution of Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts in addressing complex policy challenges.

Share best practices and tools
Present successful case studies, frameworks, and mechanisms that improve the uptake of evidence into policymaking.

Support capacity building
Offer knowledge-sharing and skill-building opportunities for early-career researchers, policymakers, and other intermediaries.

Expand networks and partnerships
Facilitate connections among actors involved in science-for-policy work, strengthening cross-sector and cross-border cooperation.

Lay the groundwork for future collaboration and policy impact
Produce actionable insights, recommendations, and possibly joint initiatives that will continue beyond the conference.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Main activities
- set up a scientific committee
- set up a steering committee
- set up an organisational committee
- prepare scoping notes for each parallel session ahead of the conference
- organise a conference note as output of the discussions during the conference, in collaboration with steering committee and scientific committee
- organise a open peer review of the conference note and finalise the version to publish
- disseminate the conference note in different national and european foras
Main achievments
- 9 scoping notes enabling target discussions
- one conference brief supported by a wide open peer review process and consolidated by the steering and scientific committee
- a dissemination plan for the conference brief and for the larger outcomes of the conference (drawings, flip charts of notes and ideas...)

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The key result of the STEP Conference is the strengthened integration of Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts (SSHA) into evidence-informed policymaking through enhanced dialogue, and new collaborative pathways between researchers and policy actors.

The conference successfully brought together a diverse community—policymakers, researchers, civil society representatives, and knowledge intermediaries—who engaged in cross-disciplinary discussions and co-learning sessions. As a result, participants co-developed a shared understanding of how to make evidence more accessible, relevant, and actionable for policy.

A significant outcome was the launch of a conference brief outlining actionable recommendations for improving the science-policy interface, particularly with regard to SSHA contributions. This included proposals for capacity building, institutional change, and mechanisms for more structured engagement across sectors.

The conference brief was used in different occasions:
1) internally, it helped to provide a position from Belgium with respect to the preparation of FP10.
2) internally, the conference brief was also discussed within the programme committee of the Science 4 Policy research programme of Belspo. This PC gathers all federal departments who were encouraged to discuss the multidisciplinarity aspects of their knowledge needs and the way multidisciplinary research could unite them behind the expected results.
3) it was also used in a discussion at the level of the College of the Chairman of the Boards of directors (i.e. the heads of all federal ministries) in the context of a follow up to the TSI exercise.
4) externally, the conference brief was used to align position with different PC delegations in cluster 2 of Horizon Europe.
5) The conference brief is also currently used in the Community of Practice supported by the JRC in the aftermath of the first TSI round.
6) This conference brief, as well as the success of the STEP conference, enabled Belspo to gain a certain acknowledge position in promoting outreach of research. Poland, who is leading the Partnership on Societal transformation and resilience (STR) has approached Belspo to lead (or take part, depending on our capacities) a work package on linking science (and the funded projects and their results) to policymakers. the Belspo experience and the conference brief will be mobilized here (in ways yet to be determined with the partners and the Polish coordination);