Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)
The SSH in the research and innovation chain
Under Horizon 2020, the social sciences and humanities (SSH) are given an enhanced role as a cross-cutting issue aimed at improving our assessment of and response to complex societal issues. Therefore, where relevant, the research and innovation chain should include contributions from SSH disciplines such as sociology, economics, psychology, political science, history and cultural sciences. See the list of SSH disciplines.
Project requirements - SSH flagged topics
Many topics invite contributions from the SSH, often in collaboration with non-SSH disciplines such as natural and physical sciences, health sciences or technology. These topics have been 'flagged' and can be found on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
See: the list of topics with an SSH dimension.
Proposals under these topics are expected to take into account the social, economic, behavioural, institutional, historical and/or cultural dimensions, as appropriate, of a societal issue. Applicants should therefore ensure that:
- contributions from the SSH are integrated at various stages of their proposed project, and
- the actions required, participants and disciplines involved as well as the added value of SSH contributions are clearly stated in the proposal.
Where relevant, applicants may also include contributions from the SSH in a project proposal under any H2020 research topic.
Evaluation
When evaluating a proposal submitted to a topic that was 'flagged' for SSH contributions, experts will first refer to the topic description to identify what the expected contributions are. With this in mind, they will evaluate the contributions from SSH in the proposal, according to the criteria.
Experts should be mindful that a successful contribution from SSH, depending on the topic, may require collaboration among various SSH disciplines and/or between SSH and non-SSH disciplines.
A proposal without a sufficient contribution/integration of SSH research and competences will receive a low evaluation score.
Even if proposals do not belong to a topic 'flagged' for SSH contributions, they may contain contributions from the SSH disciplines and should be evaluated as with other relevant aspects of the proposal.
List of SSH disciplines
Social sciences, education, business and law
Social and behavioural sciences: economics, economic history, political science, sociology, demography, anthropology (except physical anthropology), ethnology, futurology, psychology, geography (except physical geography), peace and conflict studies, human rights.
Education science: curriculum development in non-vocational and vocational subjects, educational policy and assessment, educational research.
Journalism and information: journalism, library and museum sciences, documentation techniques, archival sciences.
Business and administration: retailing, marketing, sales, public relations, real estate, finance, banking, insurance, investment analysis, accounting, auditing, management, public and institutional administration.
Law: law, jurisprudence, history of law.
Humanities and the arts
Humanities: religion and theology, foreign languages and cultures, living or dead languages and their literature, area studies, native languages, current or vernacular language and its literature, interpretation and translation, linguistics, comparative literature, history, archaeology, philosophy, ethics.
Arts: fine arts, performing arts, graphic and audio-visual arts, design, crafts.
The list is adapted from the UNESCO International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011).