Social & Cultural Innovation
Research Infrastructures that support research across and within the Social & Cultural Innovation domain are among the first known infrastructures: libraries, museums and archives are the most obvious examples of this legacy. In today’s digital age, Research Infrastructures in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) aim to enhance research into the historical, social, economic, political and cultural contexts of the European Union, providing primarily data, tools and knowledge to support strategies at the European as well as at the national level.
The data collected and provided by SCI RIs contribute as tools and basis to research that offers new insights into Europe’s cultural heritage, its creative industries, education, health and well-being of its citizens, as well as the workings of democracies, social and economic policies and societal trends in and across Europe. These insights are fundamental to understanding European society and to answer to emerging challenges moving forward.
Many SSH Research Infrastructures bring together information and data from different countries over a long period of time and as such contribute to a better understanding of cultural and societal challenges in Europe or to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Enhancing democratic governance and citizens’ participation, safeguarding and promoting cultural heritage, and responding to multifaceted economic, technological and cultural transformations are objectives of the Horizon Europe Pillar II Cluster 2Horizon Europe
https://ec.europa.eu/info/horizon-europe_en . And the UN has set ambitious goalsUN Sustainable Development Goals
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/ to erase poverty and hunger, bring quality education to all children, advance gender equality and reduce inequalities, and to foster peace, justice and strong democratic institutions. Evidence based and impact oriented SSH research lays the foundation to work towards these objectives and Research Infrastructures are essential especially in areas where information from different sources, countries and over time needs to be collected and made available to the research communities.
The value of SSH research, however, is not limited to such direct societal and cultural challenges. Climate actions, affordable and clean energy, responsible consumption and production, sustainable cities and communities or good health and well-being depend inherently on transforming human behaviour. The ability to reach the climate objectives, to take the example of the biggest current challenge in the world, is not a simple technological challenge. The ability of governments to act depends very much on political support for measures to reduce carbon emissions and to change our personal lives. In order to address these challenges, requires therefore a sound understanding of historic, social and political processes. Similarly, to fight a global pandemic does not only require developing vaccines, it requires an understanding of everyday social interactions or how to create acceptance for new vaccines or, how much balance is needed between reaching health related objectives to reduce infections but at the same time avoid several long-term negative economic and social consequences.
The SSH community reflects the importance and need of understanding society and cultural identity, and the community is also substantial in size: according to available data, SSH area accounts for over 40% of the students in Europe. EurostatEurostat – Tertiary education statistics
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Tertiary_education_statistics#Fields_of_study reports that 34% of the students are in Social Sciences – including journalism, business and law – and 10% in Arts and Humanities.
Data from Social Sciences and Infrastructures that create, collect, assemble and curate relevant information are fundamental to the further development of the social science research community of Europe. The data literacy and research potential of the next generation of Social Sciences is nurtured using the resources of networked social science data archives and cross-national surveys. Public statistics and official administrative data, major scientific surveys, and increasingly data collected through digital processes represent essential sources of knowledge for the Social Sciences. The research outputs of Europe’s social scientists have an impact on Europe’s politics and map the social and economic conditions of the continent. Developing better measures of well-being and progress is supported, at the international level, by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), its Global Science Forum (GSF)OECD Global Science Forum
https://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/global-science-forum.htm and the European Commission (EC)What is the 'Beyond GDP' initiative, European Commission
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/beyond_gdp/index_en.html, with important contributions arising from the Social Sciences.
Research in the Humanities provides a better understanding of our society, both diachronically through historical and archaeological research to answer questions of how we became what we are, how we developed our cultural identities, by which mechanisms this was driven, and how we can elaborate this knowledge for shaping the future development of our society; and synchronically, for example, by monitoring the media to detect what is currently happening in our society, how we react to the major challenges, and how societal challenges in our neighbourhood can be addressed. Furthermore, Humanities make essential contributions to understand the intellectual and cultural foundation of humanity in general and the European societies in particular, by analysing its literature and the philosophical bases of economic, political and religious thinking and beliefs, as well as by anthropological research. As diversity increases in the European population, Humanities will have a major role to play in proposing methods to manage diversity and resolve conflict, both within and between societies. Humanities RIs also serve society by providing resources for the research into education, language learning, sign language, communication and gestures, etc.
There is economic impact from this knowledge, as well as a solid base for developing politics and society at large. The increased availability of digital resources in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the development of advanced digital methods for research, have prompted remarkable changes in the scale and scope of research in these disciplines. In the area of the Humanities, collaboration between the RIs and the GLAM sector – galleries, libraries, archives and museums – will lead to an enhanced impact on culture and society as advanced tools are now being developed. In the Social Sciences, the turn towards doing research with existing data, instead of data designed and collected specifically for research, requires new infrastructures to use and access data, and in collaboration with other disciplines also to analyse such data.
Further drivers of SSH research and SSH Research Infrastructure needs are impact assessments and the push towards Open Science. In addition to scientific impact, which is at the core of Research Infrastructures, SSH research creates impact by enhancing evidence-based public policy, through a deeper engagement of citizens in the understanding of culture and cultural heritage in increasingly diverse societies, through contributions to resources and tools for handling citizens’ needs, and through creating collaboration among multiple stakeholders. SSH Research Infrastructures strengthen this process through new tools, technologies and servicesSee for example the Social Impact Open Repository that allows researchers to upload qualitative and quantitative testimonies of the social impact of their research, making use of specific indicators
https://sior.ub.edu. The strong push towards more Open Science by policy-makers and funding agencies in many disciplines has also important consequences for the Research Infrastructure landscape. There is a common understanding that a lot of research data and information is a public good, but this requires institutions to allow storing and finding this information or accessing it in terms of data or also accessing publications in open publications formats.