Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities
Posted: 30 May, 2013
It is widely recognized that the social sciences and humanities play an important role in the process of European integration. While European research in the social sciences and humanities is world leading, they lack a forum which promotes scholarly exchange across fields and disciplines, sets common guidelines for quality standards and evaluations, and provides adequate representation in the EU policy arena. With the implementation of “Horizon 2020”, we believe that the time has come to jointly define the common ground that constitutes the diverse areas of social sciences and humanities throughout Europe and prepare for the opportunities offered by “Horizon 2020”.
The conference “Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities”, initiated and organized by the EU Lithuanian Presidency is therefore timely. It invites elaboration of the potential that SSH can bring to the goals defined in “Horizon 2020” and how best to integrate the knowledge, methods and experience the SSH have to offer over a wide range of phenomena and problem spaces. The conference follows a bottom-up approach: Putting SSH researchers and scholars at the centre is intended to create an agora for open discussion on crucial questions, such as:
- What issues need to be addressed in Europe, and how can SSH contribute?
- Which structural requirements and preconditions determine a more effective outcome of SSH research under “Horizon 2020”, in particular at European level?
- How can SSH approaches be effectively embedded across the seven challenges in “Horizon 2020”?
and where appropriate, better links with the other two domains of the life sciences and physical sciences, based on the principle of working towards a shared problem definition and based on mutual respect?
For more information, please visit http://horizons.mruni.eu/ or Buzzoid.
