Shifting horizons for Europe's social sciences and humanities

In March this year, the US Congress voted to eliminate most funding for political science from the budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF), unless it can be proved that each grant benefits national security or economic interests. Since then, a leaked draft of the new US High Quality Research Act, has sparked controversy across the research community that Congress is trying to interfere with the scientific grant process. These incidents highlight the dangers of political influence over funding decisions, and the particular vulnerability of the social sciences and humanities.

It is always tempting for policymakers to focus on short-term economic impact, but most would agree that it is the role of government to fund basic research. Paradoxically, it was the US that established this policy, by setting up the National Science Foundation after the second world war. Its success was based on keeping out political interference. This was widely emulated in Europe. In the UK, the Haldane Principle stipulates that while government sets the overall science budget, funding decisions are left to experts, who decide autonomously. Other countries in Europe have similar provisions. History has shown that, under the right conditions, bottom-up, curiosity-driven basic research in the natural sciences leads to breakthroughs, including new technologies, markets and even jobs.

The public image of the social sciences and humanities is, however, far more confused. They are often cast as deficient, for not leading to discoveries as spectacular as the internet, the laser, GPS or new therapeutics. Such utilitarian reasoning is short-sighted and rests on a fallacy. The social sciences and humanities produce knowledge and insights about our societies and our past, our complex relations to each other and to our environment. They are crucial to building, understanding and improving those institutions that are the backbone of democracy. They enrich our understanding of how modern economies function or, as during the recent financial crisis, how and why they fail. They critically reflect on the consequences of industrialisation, urbanisation and population growth. They provide the intellectual power to respond to some of the most pressing challenges facing our world.

In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, Nicholas Christakis mocked the social sciences for their lack of institutional innovation. We don't have to fully buy his argument: the institutionalisation of research is often arbitrary across all fields of academia, including the natural sciences. But his article points to a broader issue: we in the social sciences and humanities are now used to the self-perception of being inherently fragmented. There is no doubt that scholarly diversity is an asset in itself; but only if it builds on common ground. We have somehow lost sight of this common ground, this mutual understanding.

What do I mean by "common ground"? Let me offer as an example the work of the European Research Council (ERC), which I lead. The ERC funds, solely on the basis of excellence, the best research projects in all fields of research. The ERC's 25 evaluation panels, each of which is interdisciplinary, make the ultimate funding decisions. These panels are composed of internationally renowned scientists and scholars, who are explicitly asked to disregard academic boundaries and to concentrate on finding the best proposals, no matter which discipline they may "belong" to. As a result, in its short life, the ERC has become the flagship of excellence in the European research area, and provides a unique forum for scholars and scientists to get to know and work in and with complementary fields.

In the ERC, projects in the social sciences and humanities are treated exactly like those in our other domains: physics and engineering, and life sciences. Around 17% of the ERC's total budget goes to the social sciences and humanities. These funds are directed towards a wide array of cutting-edge projects; from economics, public policy, psychology and linguistics, to history, archaeology and art-based research. The UK currently holds the number one position in funding terms within the social sciences and humanities domain, from our pan-European ERC competitions.

Under its new EU research programme, Horizon 2020, the importance of the social sciences and humanities has been formally recognised. Horizon 2020 has a number of innovative features – one of which is "to work beyond the 'silos' of different disciplines", in the words of EU Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. More than €28bn is being allocated to tackle societal challenges, including energy efficiency, climate change, health, ageing, security, privacy issues and digitisation.

It is obvious that the social science and humanities have a lot to contribute to each of these agendas, and the EU's integrative approach is laudable. It recognises the reciprocity of technological innovation and societal advancement: the more we strive for scientific and technological innovation, the more social innovation is needed. Science and democracy are never completely free of tension, but the social sciences and humanities can help to further mutual understanding on both sides. What's more, these fields are the lynchpin for public engagement with science.

The Horizon 2020 programme reflects a strikingly different approach to developments across the Atlantic. In the United States, the social sciences and humanities are under attack. In Europe, we are committed to integrating the natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences and humanities, aiming to foster better, more valuable research.

Lithuania, which currently holds the EU presidency, is hosting an important conference on Monday and Tuesday about "Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities". This meeting in Vilnius will be a next step in defining the ecosystem in which the social sciences and humanities can flourish – for the benefit of Europe as a whole, and for all its citizens.

Helga Nowotny is president of the European Research Council and professor emerita of social studies of science at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)