(SSH CENTRE) Social Sciences & Humanities for Climate, Energy aNd Transport Research Excellence

Social Sciences & Humanities for Climate, Energy aNd Transport Research Excellence (SSH CENTRE)

Project funded by the Europen Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme
Grant Agreement n. 101069529
Duration: 42 months
Start date: 01/09/2022
The project official website

The transition to a more environmentally sustainable social and economic system is a complex process requiring approaches that engage with a plurality of stakeholders, in order to allow the concrete experience of non-academic actors to contribute fully to the identification of the problems to be addressed and the definition of solutions. Therefore, to face transition is vital to create the conditions that SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines work together (multidisciplinarity) but also feed deep and meaningful dialogue across society, integrating ‘extra-scientific’ insights from the onset of projects, to jointly shape research questions and project direction (transdisciplinarity).

The Social Sciences & Humanities for Climate, Energy aNd Transport Research Excellence (SSH CENTRE) project is aimed at addressing these issues, encouraging the involvement of SSH communities in Europe in the environmental transition, promoting joint work with STEMs, the involvement of stakeholders, and the implementation of research, innovation, and public policy-making activities. To this end, SSH Centre involves 13 leading organisations from across the EU with expertise across SSH and STEM disciplines applied to climate, energy, and mobility, and with experience in transdisciplinarity and citizen engagement. The project involves networks that span academia, policymakers at various levels, the private sector, civil society, and citizens. The project includes a wide range of activities, such as the development of novel SSH-STEM collaborations to facilitate the delivery of the EU Green Deal; the organisation of knowledge brokerage initiatives involving SSH early career researchers to support 6 European cities in managing the sustainability transition; the design of strategies for citizen engagement in the EC research and innovation policies affecting climate, energy, and transport.

Multiple outputs are expected from the project, including literacy briefs, a book (two volumes), policy recommendations, self-paced online training modules, scientific and policy events, a toolbox on public engagement methods, a webinar, and an open knowledge platform.

News

The online course on knowledge brokerage launched

Based on the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Knowledge Brokerage Programme for the Environmental Transition, an online introductory course on knowledge brokerage was produced between April and September 2024, with the involvement of K&I, Energy Cities and Anglia Ruskin University. The course is organized in two parts and includes a total of 9 videos, as well as teaching materials and resources. The course is accessible on the project website and was launched in November on the Energy Cities learning platform, accessible here ...

Launch event in Granada of the books produced by SSH CENTRE

The three collective books produced within the SSH CENTRE project on strengthening European policies in the fields of climate, energy and mobility were presented on 22 October 2024, in Granada. Their production involved 154 researchers from 23 European countries, with contributions from leading scholars, policymakers, representatives of private companies and citizens. Each book presents around 10 key policy recommendations, each focusing on a specific aspect of the Green Deal. The presentation was held in a hybrid format at the Science Park of Granada and was attended by four representatives of the European Commission and the editors of the three publications ...

SSH CENTRE project consortium meeting

The SSH CENTRE project consortium meeting was held in Granada on 23 and 24 October. During the meeting, the results obtained in the different work packages were presented and the activities planned for the next months were analyzed. Luciano d’Andrea attended the meeting on behalf of K&I ...

The Knowledge brokerage programme completed

The Knowledge Brokering Programme in the Humanities and Social Sciences (SSH) for sustainability transition ended in June 2024. Following the course on knowledge brokerage in support of the environmental transition, the 30 participants (all researchers in the humanities and social sciences), organised in six teams, carried out between January and June 2024 as many knowledge brokerage initiatives, each focusing on a specific aspect of the environmental transition, in cooperation with six European city administrations: Arnhem (Netherlands) on energy communities; Čačak (Serbia) on the use of digital technologies for inclusive mobility; Grenoble (France) about resource efficiency, sufficiency and circularity; Porto (Portugal) ...

Online course on Knowledge Brokerage

In the framework of the SSH CENTRE Project WP3, led by K&I, an online course on Knowledge Brokerage was held from 20 to 24 November 2023 for 30 PhD and Early to Mid-Career Researchers working in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). The course was focused on knowledge brokerage of SSH knowledge for sustainability transitions and was intended to help participants define and design the six KB initiatives they will conduct in collaboration with as many European cities. The course comprised five four-hour sessions, each focusing on a specific topic. Some invited speakers contributed to the course including Wiebe E. Bijker (University ...

Selection of the participants in the Knowledge Brokerage Programme completed

In July 2023, the selection process for participants in the Knowledge Brokerage programme, implemented within the framework of SSH CENTRE, was concluded. Overall, 185 applications have been received between 20 April and 3 July, i.e., the period in which the Call for Applications was open. They have been then analysed, leading to a selection of 30 researchers. The participants, who will participate in a dedicated training course in November, will be organised into six different teams, each of which will work in collaboration with a European city administration to conduct a knowledge brokerage initiative on specific topics related to environmental ...

Info Sheets on participatory mechanisms published

In April 2023, a toolbox containing a set of Information Sheets on engagement methods was developed and delivered as a part of WP1 (Scoping) of the SSH CENTRE project. The aim of the sheets is to illustrate 12 diverse participatory methods with tangible best practice examples, taken from across Europe, that SSH researchers could use in their professional and research activities. The methods include, among others, storytelling, citizen science, serious games, citizen assemblies, and participatory evaluation. K&I contributed to the publication developing the info sheet devoted to participatory knowledge mapping. ...

Ten Literature Briefs on emerging topics

As part of the SSH CENTRE project (WP1), ten Literature Briefs have been produced in April 2023 with the aim of capturing as many topics which are at the core of present EU policies. These literature briefs each provide an overview of the topic in focus and are conceived to help researchers (especially from SSH disciplines) and practitioners to introduce themselves to these topics. Luciano d’Andrea and Fabio Feudo (K&I) developed the Literature Brief titled “Responsible Research & Innovation: The developing role of interdisciplinarity” ...

Two workshops in Bilbao and Pecs

Two workshops have been organised under the SSH CENTRE project WP1, respectively in Bilbao (Spain) and Pecs (Hungary). The workshop in Bilbao, titled "Southern Voices on Research Geographies” was held on 17 March 2023, co-hosted by The Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) & Wikitoki. The workshop in Pecs, titled "From the edge to cutting the edge research funding”, was held on 28 March 2023, organised by the Centre for Economic and Regional Studies (CERS). The workshops were aimed at reflecting on the situation of social sciences and humanities respectively in Southern Europe and in Central Eastern Europe. On behalf ...

The Policy Insight event “Co-creating the shift to clean mobility”

On January 26, 2023, the Policy Insight event “Co-creating the shift to clean mobility” was held in Brussels hosted by Friends of Europe. The event marked the official launch of the SSH CENTRE Project. Three speakers participated in the event: Cathy Macharis (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Julia Poliscanova (Transport & Environment), and Rosalinde van der Vlies (European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation) ...

The first SSH CENTRE Consortium Meeting

Hosted by the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), the first Consortium Meeting of the SSH CENTER project was held in Brussels on 25 and 26 January 2023. During the meeting, the WP leaders presented an update of the activities carried out in the framework of their work package and a plan of actions envisaged for the coming months. Luciano d'Andrea and Fabio Feudo (K&I) chaired the session dedicated to WP3, led by K&I, aimed at implementing knowledge brokerage initiatives involving young social researchers to support the administrations of six European cities (city hubs) to develop policy initiatives in the area ...

The Kick-off Meeting

The Kick-Off Meeting of the SSH CENTRE project was held on 7 and 8 September 2022 in Cambridge (UK) hosted by the Anglia Ruskin University. On the first day, after a general presentation of the project, the attention was mainly focused on project management and coordination (WP7), the dissemination, communication, and exploitation of the project results (WP6), the scoping activities (WP1), and the process of evaluation and synthesis of the project results (WP5). On the second day, three workshops have been organised to discuss the cooperation activities between SSH and STEM disciplines (WP2), the knowledge brokerage of SSH knowledge to policymaking ...