SSH relevance in Horizon Europe proposals

Horizon Europe calls across all clusters and missions require meaningful social sciences and humanities (SSH) integration. When done effectively, SSH strengthens scientific robustness and enhances both economic and societal impact—key factors for a successful evaluation outcome.

Why SSH matters

SSH disciplines help projects understand user behaviour, preferences, ethics and the conditions for adopting research and innovation outcomes. The European Commission identifies SSH as a central cross-cutting priority, particularly in supporting the green and digital transitions.

When assessing proposals under Pillar II (Global Challenges), evaluators apply a structured set of criteria for each section of the proposal template: Excellence, Impact and Implementation. For SSH-flagged topics, evaluators pay particular attention to how SSH disciplines and expertise are integrated across the proposal.

Simply including a section titled ‘SSH integration’ may not suffice where this criteria is highly relevant. Proposals should identify the specific SSH disciplines involved (such as sociology, economics, or behavioural sciences), describe the corresponding methods, and explain their contribution to the project’s design and outcomes.

In the Excellence section, the methodology should demonstrate how SSH is incorporated into technical choices, experimentation and validation. A well-balanced consortium including SSH experts should assign them visible leadership roles and appropriate resources.

Proposals are also evaluated on how effectively they contribute to societal, scientific and economic impact—areas where SSH plays a vital role. Where they are genuinely not relevant, a concise and credible justification must be provided.

Tips for embedding SSH across your proposal

Excellence

• Objectives and ambition: Where relevant, link project objectives to SSH insights (e.g. societal acceptance barriers, behavioral drivers, socio-economic constraints) to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the problem.
• State of the art: Highlight what is novel in integrating SSH and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) approaches, emphasising interdisciplinary added value.
• Methodology: Explain how SSH approaches and methods (e.g. surveys, interviews, modelling) are incorporated into the research design and how they inform technical decisions, experimentation and validation.

Impact

• Pathways to impact: Describe how SSH approaches and outputs support the uptake of project results (e.g. public engagement, trust, ethics, affordability, business models, policy recommendations).
• Stakeholder engagement: Identify target audiences, define engagement mechanisms, and include indicators to measure success.
• Measures to maximise impact (DEC): Tailor messages, channels and tools to each audience, and include KPIs that go beyond quantitative web metrics.

Implementation

• Work plan: Map SSH activities to relevant tasks or work packages (e.g. stakeholder mapping, user engagement, policy analysis), ensuring interdependencies between SSH and STEM rather than treating SSH in isolation.
• Governance: Assign SSH partners formal leadership in relevant areas and plan regular integration activities (e.g. co-design workshops, joint deliverables).
• Resources: Allocate sufficient time and budget for SSH tasks, including data collection, analysis and iteration with technical teams.

Useful Resources

• Further information on SSH integration is accessible on the Net4Society website: the network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society) and SSH integration across Horizon Europe:
• Learning video: What is SSH integration in Horizon Europe?
• Check-lists for HE RIA, CSA actions & impact section
• Factsheet: Success stories in SSH – STEM collaboration
• This is the first report on the integration of SSH in research and innovation projects funded under Horizon Europe: 1st Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon Europe Monitoring Report
• Example of project in Luxembourg: REGEN ( HORIZON EUROPE - CLUSTER 5 ) : STEM’s cutting-edge digital tools are merged with SSH’s human methodologies to validate 50 urban regeneration interventions across Europe through a multifaceted toolbox driving behavioural change and sustainable neighbourhood transformation.

Your checklist for your HE proposal:

• Have you described the SSH disciplines, methods and tasks included in the proposal?
• Is it clear how SSH activities contribute to design, modelling, testing and validation?
• Do SSH partners lead or co-lead relevant tasks or work packages?
• Are engagement and impact measures tailored to specific audiences with measurable KPIs?
• If SSH is not relevant, is the justification concise and credible?

As Luxembourg’s Horizon Europe national contact point, Luxinnovation can help you understand SSH relevance in specific topics and review your proposal prior to submission.

Image: Geralt/Pixabay