1) What is actually meant by SSH integration in Horizon Europe?

The inclusion of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) in Horizon Europe implies more than a token social scientist on the consortium list. It has to do with making SSS questions, methods and skills part of the essence of the project, the way you frame the problem, the way you create experiments, the manner in which you interpret the results and translate them into the policies, technologies or services. 

2) What is the reason why SSS integration is relevant to natural science and engineering projects?

Due to the fact that many of the research questions that are generated today are completely socio-technical. Horizon Europe anticipates that projects should not just answer the question, ‘Can we do this technologically?’ but also how people will use it, accept it, regulate it, or be impacted by it. SSH integration: 

-Offers a more comprehensive picture of complicated issues,

-Makes projects more relevant in society,

-And is more innovative than technical methods in its solutions.

In the case of microfluidics and hard-science projects this could be research into user behaviour, ethics, economics or regulatory environment in addition to the lab work.

3) What are some of the practical examples of SSH integration into the hard-science subjects?

The article provides a number of examples that can be easily modified: 

-Biodiversity and society – Ecologists collaborate with sociologists/anthropologists to determine how local communities engage with ecosystems and co-design conservation plans that are ecologically viable and acceptable to society.

-Health risks of environmental change – Through collaboration with health sociologists and psychologists, environmental scientists study attitudes to risks and the motivation driving behaviour change.

-Genetic technologies and ethics – Biotechnologists work with philosophers and ethicists to evaluate the implications, controversies, and acceptable limits of the new genetic technologies in society.

-Sustainable agriculture and food security – Agronomists collaborate with economists and political scientists to develop policies and business models that help to make sustainable farming a possibility for farmers, particularly those in disadvantaged areas.

Each of them pairs a natural science issue with an SSH lens and approaches (surveys, interviews, ethnography, policy analysis, socio-economic modelling, etc.).

4) Is the integration of SSH limited to the case of an SSH-flagged call?

Topics with SSH flags are those in which integration is clearly demanded and will be heavily reviewed during the evaluation. However, the reasoning of the article is more general: when SSS is not put in bold, consideration of social, economic, behavioural or ethical facets make your Excellence and Impact scores higher and your proposal more persuasive. That is, SSS is increasingly regarded as a matter of course rather than a luxury. 

5) What is the best way to have a natural science consortium begin plausibly integrating SSH?

A pragmatic sequence is: 

-Mapping the societal angles of your topic users, patients, regulators, communities, business models, ethics.

-Determine what disciplines of SSS are appropriate (sociology, economics, anthropology, psychology, ethics, political science, etc.).

-Introduce SSS partners to the consortium early enough to ensure that they co-specify goals and approaches rather than merely testing them out at the conclusion.

-Outline joint work packages in which the natural scientists and the SSH researchers will be truly collaborative (e.g. co-creating use-cases, policy roadmaps, adoption studies).

In this manner, SSS jobs are integrated into the project rather than sitting in an isolated WP at the end.

6) SSS integration What does SSS integration look like in the Excellence and Impact sections?

In Excellence, you demonstrate that your research issues and methodology are informed by technical and also SSH knowledge- e.g. you can include behavioural research, socio-economic modelling, or ethical analysis in your plan of work. Water In Impact, you describe the way in which SSH assists you to reach and serve actual users or citizens (i.e. by catering to local practices, enhancing acceptance, creating business-realistic policies or business cases). The article clearly states that integrating SSS is a requirement for making a convincing argument to solve a complex societal problem. 

7) What are the popular SSH practices in natural-science projects?

The guide refers to various techniques that can be used together with laboratory work or engineering: 

-Qualitative: interviews, focus groups, fieldwork, ethnographic, and participatory workshops.

-Quantitative: discrete-choice experiments, social-economic statistics, modelling, surveys.

-Conceptual/ethical: building the scenario, ethical impact analysis, normative analysis.

The trick here is to make your methods fit your questions: do not include a survey as an ornament; demonstrate what decisions it will make.

8) What is the enhancement of SSS projects in microfluidics, diagnostics or other superior technologies?

In the case of such technologies as lab-on-chip diagnostics, organ-on-chip, environmental biosensors or agri-tech microreactors, SSH can be used to:

-Learn user behaviour and acceptance (clinicians, farmers, patients, regulators).

-Evaluate the economic viability and adoption (cost, reimbursement, value chains).

-Discuss ethical and legal issues (use of data, patient autonomy, environmental issues).

The MIC article targets specifically natural-science and engineering groups that may not pay attention to these dimensions and miss out on marks in assessment. 

9) What are the official EU guidelines and examples in regards to the SSS integration?

The article identifies two sources, which can be quite helpful: 

-The Horizon Europe Programme Guide (especially, the parts of SSS-marked issues and examples of integration).

-The European Alliance of Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH) site which gathers resources and exemplifies good practices in the field of SSH.

The two are worth including in your proposal to demonstrate conformity with EU expectations.

10) Who is going to assist us in shaping SSS integration to our proposal?

There are three primary support channels, including: 

-Your country’s NCP (National Contact Point) can give you specific advice on SSS requirements in Horizon calls.

-SSH professionals and units in your respective institutions or partner universities.

-External collaborators such as the Microfluidics Innovation Center (MIC) that tends to co-author bids and assists natural-science consortia in organizing SSH work together with microfluidic engineering, automation, and prototyping.

The experience of MIC in many Horizon projects has shown that proposals can be made competitive through a combination of serious SSH integration and strong technical work packages.