Addressing disparities in European Social Sciences & Humanities research on climate, energy and mobility: insights from a Call for Evidence survey and analysis workshops on the challenges and opportunities of working in Southern and Central & Eastern Europe

Chris Foulds; Ami Crowther; Alevgul H Sorman; Violeta Cabello; Dóra Bálint; Gergely Tagai; Viktor Varjú; Rosie Robison; Ester Galende Sánchez; Kristina Zindulková

doi:10.12688/openreseurope.16237.1

Addressing disparities in European Social Sciences & Humanities research on climate, energy and mobility: insights from a Call for Evidence survey and analysis workshops on the challenges and opportunities of working in Southern and Central & Eastern Europe

Open Res Eur. 2023 Sep 18:3:150. doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.16237.1. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, England, CB1 1PT, UK.
² Basque Center for Climate Change, Bilbao, Basque Country, 48940, Spain.
³ Ikerbasque, Bilbao, Basque Country, 48009, Spain.
⁴ Institute for Regional Studies, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Pécs, 7621, Hungary.

Abstract

Despite the efforts of the EU, disparities remain in terms of the participation of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) researchers from both Southern and Central & Eastern Europe in research collaborations, as compared to Northern and Western European scholars. To better understand these disparities, the EU Horizon Europe SSH CENTRE project ran a Call for Evidence over December 2022 to March 2023. Specifically, respondents were asked about the challenges they faced in conducting SSH research on climate, energy and/or mobility, as well as the ways in which these challenges could be addressed. The Call's online survey was focused on maximising diversity, and it gathered views and experiences of 137 Southern and Central & Eastern European SSH researchers. The sample was balanced across genders (71 men, 66 women) and the three main themes (82 energy, 88 climate, 53 mobility), and included at least one respondent from each of the 27 target countries. The highest numbers of respondents were from Hungary (19) and Spain (21). To ensure that interpretation and analysis of the data was grounded in regional contexts, we ran two parallel analysis workshops hosted in a hybrid format (combining online and in-person participants): one in Pécs for Central & Eastern European SSH researchers (34 participants); and one in Bilbao for Southern European SSH researchers (26 participants). These workshops focused on discussing the relationship between SSH-STEM disciplines, analysing the institutional contexts, and discussing the implications for domestic and EU research funding relations. During the workshops, data collected through the survey were collectively analysed and the most important reflections were gathered into a common structure of 'Challenges' and 'Ways forward'. Key messages from the workshop are being distilled into a Position Statement that focuses on the common elements while also emphasising possible differences between Southern and Central & Eastern Europe.

Keywords: Career pathways; Fragmentation; Funding; Mixed methods.; Research and innovation policy; Research geographies; Universities.

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 101069529 (Social Sciences and Humanities for Climate, Energy and Transport Research Excellence [SSH CENTRE]) and by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee [grant No 10038991].