European Union (EU) funded projects aiming at, or striving to reach, higher integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To this end, four multidisciplinary workshops carried out in the EU Project `Social Sciences and Humanities for Advancing Policy in European Energy - SHAPE ENERGY- (2017–2019)' have been analysed in order to address the following questions: (1) Which STEM-SSH aspects are dealt with in EU-funded projects?; (2) Which tasks relate to SSH practitioners in the Work Packages distribution?; (3) How do EU-funded projects engage in interdisciplinary work?; (4) Which barriers for effective SSH integration have been envisaged?. The main findings emphasise how SSH is still predominantly regarded as a means to orient the market and encourage individuals to accept a top-down policy, technology or process, and this is further illustrated through the ways in which the Horizon 2020 energy and transport calls are fundamentally framed and positioned. Based on the research conducted in this paper, the four workshops represented the right approach not only for comparing current directions and ongoing tasks in individual EU energy and transport projects, but also for proposing concrete ideas to increase the impact of said projects on society. Moreover, this approach favoured reflections on innovative methods of interdisciplinary project ideas for energy-related topics. The conclusion of this paper gives suggestions on how to achieve better interdisciplinary practices when designing EU calls and projects related to energy topics, calling for further interdisciplinary and society-relevant research and innovation, through enhanced multi-stakeholder cooperation and interdisciplinary communication on complex topics.
''Only Social Scientists Laughed'': Reflections on Social Sciences and Humanities Integration in European Energy Projects
Arrobbio Osman;Monaci Sara
2020-01-01
Abstract
European Union (EU) funded projects aiming at, or striving to reach, higher integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To this end, four multidisciplinary workshops carried out in the EU Project `Social Sciences and Humanities for Advancing Policy in European Energy - SHAPE ENERGY- (2017–2019)' have been analysed in order to address the following questions: (1) Which STEM-SSH aspects are dealt with in EU-funded projects?; (2) Which tasks relate to SSH practitioners in the Work Packages distribution?; (3) How do EU-funded projects engage in interdisciplinary work?; (4) Which barriers for effective SSH integration have been envisaged?. The main findings emphasise how SSH is still predominantly regarded as a means to orient the market and encourage individuals to accept a top-down policy, technology or process, and this is further illustrated through the ways in which the Horizon 2020 energy and transport calls are fundamentally framed and positioned. Based on the research conducted in this paper, the four workshops represented the right approach not only for comparing current directions and ongoing tasks in individual EU energy and transport projects, but also for proposing concrete ideas to increase the impact of said projects on society. Moreover, this approach favoured reflections on innovative methods of interdisciplinary project ideas for energy-related topics. The conclusion of this paper gives suggestions on how to achieve better interdisciplinary practices when designing EU calls and projects related to energy topics, calling for further interdisciplinary and society-relevant research and innovation, through enhanced multi-stakeholder cooperation and interdisciplinary communication on complex topics.
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