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24 September 2013

Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities

Recent interdisciplinary research from IIASA was presented at a Lithuanian EU Presidency’s Conference. The event, Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities, concluded with a call for better integration and implementation of social sciences and humanities into science and research policies.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė opens the Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities international conference. Photo source: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com. Photo courtesy of © 2013 Office of the President of the Lithuania, Photo by Dž. G. Barysaitė

A major international conference on the integration of the social sciences and humanities into the EU’s new program for research, Horizon 2020, concluded today. The conference, under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite, issued the Vilnius Declaration to show the value of integrating social sciences and humanities into researching the major challenges facing Europe.

Horizon 2020 is the EU’s new program for research and innovation that will run from 2014 to 2020 with a budget just over €70 billion. It is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe. The Vilnius Declaration identifies the values and principles of integrating social sciences and humanities into Horizon 2020; and explains it “offers a unique opportunity to broaden our understanding of innovation, realigning science with ongoing changes in the ways in which society operates.”

“Both Horizon 2020 and the Vilnius Declaration make a strong call for integrative and trans-disciplinary research,” said IIASA Director and CEO Prof. Pavel Kabat, who as a member of the conference’s steering committee signed the declaration. “This approach of integrating different disciplines to solve major global problems has been pioneered at IIASA over the last forty years.”

Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science gave the opening address on the second day of the conference, Horizons for Social Science and Humanities. The focus of this day was to bring together experts in finding novel forms of integrative collaboration. These included IIASA’s foremost water and climate expert Prof. Kabat; IIASA’s leading demographer Prof. Wolfgang Lutz; and IIASA’s principal air pollution specialist Dr. Markus Amann. Prof. Lutz presented his latest work on health, demographic change and well-being and Prof. Kabat and Dr. Amman organized and participated in the session on climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials.