Social Sciences and European Research Capacities

The project aims to promote a greater commitment of social sciences in the field of scientific and technological development, and to increase the capacity of researchers and experts in social disciplines to contribute to the processes of scientific and technological research. The project aims thus towards the objective of strengthening the capacity of European research in the management of social dynamics linked to scientific and technological production.

The achievement of this general overall objective entails the pursuit of four different specific objectives:

• Definition of elements for the evaluation of the weight of social sciences in the context of scientific and technological research in Europe. 
• Identification of hindering and facilitating factors that allow for an increased presence and integration of social researchers and experts into the systems of scientific and technological production. 
• Supply of elements for the development of policies geared towards a greater integration between social sciences and European scientific and technological research.  I
• ncrease of the level of awareness of the many players involved in European research in relation to the relevance of social dynamics linked to scientific and technological production.

The project - with an overall duration of 36 months - intends to configure itself as an integrated program that foresees a series of passages, that is the execution of a study on the involvement of social disciplines in the context of scientific and technological research that will lead to a better understanding of the factors hindering or facilitating the integration of social sciences in the processes of scientific and technological research; the realisation of four demonstration activities to experiment different modalities of such integration; the drafting of a first version of four handbooks on the contribution of social disciplines in this sector which will containing guidelines for action according to the findings of the study and the results of the experimentation; the set-up of four panels of experts, in order to accomplish a peer review of achieved results and to draft the final version of the four handbooks; an activity of awareness raising and dissemination, by means of electronic communication.

The project is carried out by a consortium of 6 research institutions that represent five member states of the European Union.

Find the SS-ERC official homepage here.

Participant countries and organisations:

• Università Roma Tor Vergata (Italy); 
• Laboratorio di Scienze della Cittadinanza - LSC (Italy); 
• The Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy of the Aarhus University (Denmark); 
• Fundaciòn Universidad de Salamanca (Spain); 
• University of Capodistria (Slovenia) 
• University of Maastricht (Netherlands).

Funding provided by The European Commission, FP6.

Publications:

The Socialisation of Scientific and Technological Research - A meta-evaluation and experimentation 
E. K. Schmidt: Report 2009/1 from the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy.

Danish project leader:
Associate professor Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt

Project participant:
Director Karen Siune
Senior Researcher Niels Mejlgaard
Research Assistant Stig Aagaard