More than 350 experts from more than 40 countries, representatives of the European Commission and national research funding bodies discussed new approaches, such as humanities, social and cultural research in societal challenges.

In its opening speech said the Austrian Minister of Science, Heinz Fassmann: "The great social challenges of our time can not be solved solely by contributions from the natural and technical sciences. Humanities, social sciences and cultural studies also play a key role in understanding human behavior better and in finding new technologies, social innovations or political solutions. The missions that are to be solved in the context of Horizon Europe with contributions from research, therefore, need a strong involvement of the humanities, social and cultural sciences". The Minister also underlined how the conference output, i.e. the guidebook "Vademecum" that will be published in January 2019 shall provide concrete information on how research tenders and projects should be organized so that they optimally include the humanities, social and cultural sciences to achieve social impact.  The conference also discussed, inter alia, concrete support measures for research projects designed to make it easier to put scientific findings into practice. This happens, for example, through the greater involvement of those directly affected by the research results, such as patients, customers or citizens.

The conference video provides impressions from the Austrian Presidency of the EU conference on ‘Impact of Social Sciences and Humanities for a European Research Agenda – Valuation of SSH in mission-oriented research‘ and statements from

• Ineke Sluiter, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Carina H. Keskitalo, Member of Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission
• James Wilsdon, University of Sheffield
• Klaus Schuch, Centre for Social Innovation
• Anabela Gago, European Commission – DG Migration and Home Affairs
• John Brewer, Queen’s University Belfast
• Harald Hartung, European Commission – DG Research and Innovation
• Ulrike Felt, University of Vienna
• Matthias Reiter-Pázmándy, Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

You can access the video here.

Furthermore, some impressions of the SSH Impact conference are available here while the programme brochure can be downloaded here.