Project description
Science, democracy, and disruptive events
In our rapidly changing world, disruptive events like pandemics and wars are reshaping society. But how do such events influence the development of ideas on science and democracy? Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the IDEAS-SEED project seeks to answer this by studying two university pairs in early modern Europe: Oxford and Cambridge in England, and Copenhagen and Lund in Scandinavia. These universities faced plagues, wars, and famines at different times between 1600-1720, during the Scientific Revolution and the rise of democratic thought. By analysing students’ publications with AI and natural language processing, the project will uncover how these crises influenced scientific and democratic ideas, shedding light on the roots of modern society’s beliefs.
Objective
How do disruptive events shape the development of ideas on science and democracy? The question is of utmost importance in our world today as we face an increasing frequency of disruptive events, such as pandemics or wars. To gain a long-run understanding of the fundamental factors that link disruptive events to changes in the development of ideas on science and democracy, the IDEAS-SEED (henceforth IDEAS) project will explore natural experiments in history. Specifically, it will study two university pairs in early-modern Europe that were highly similar in institutions and composition of their student body, yet got treated by plague, warfare, and famine at different times each. The first pair is the University of Oxford and Cambridge in England and the second pair is the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Lund University in Sweden. The study will cover the timespan of 1600-1720, the time of the Scientific Revolution and competing ideas between liberal Parliamentarianism and kingly absolutism.
To quantify ideas, the project will match students at these universities to their publication titles. Then, using state-of-the art techniques in natural language processing and AI, the project will classify the topics of students' publications and identify students' ideological stances. To ensure accuracy free from present-day bias, the study will fine-tune an LLM on historical data. The fine-tuned LLM will be publicly shared and will also be an outcome of the IDEAS project.
Overall, the IDEAS project will use a set of natural experiments to explore how disruptive events shaped the development of ideas on science and democracy at the time of the Scientific Revolution and the first writings on liberal democracy- thereby studying the origin of the scientific and democratic beliefs of our modern societies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5230 Odense M
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.