Interdisciplinarity in Times of Crisis: Why the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Matter

Panellists

Mission Covid-19: Global problems need a portfolio approach

Gabi Lombardo, European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities

In a new position paper EASSH calls for European policymakers and funding agencies to ensure that all domains of research are mobilised to address the challenges of Covid-19, using a mission-type “portfolio approach” of projects and disciplines. In addition to medical and biological research, studies into the social, cultural and human aspects of our lives are crucial for tackling this crisis. We need multiple types of expertise and methodologies to provide the accurate, informed and ethically sound evidence required by our policymakers.

Gabi Lombardo is the Director of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities (www.eassh.eu), the largest advocacy and science policy organisation for social sciences and humanities in Europe.  She is an expert in both higher education and global research policy, and has extensive high-level experience operating at the interface of strategy, science policy, research support and funding. Gabi has senior level experience in strategic and ‘foresight’ planning in elite higher education institutions, international research funders and associations, having worked with the London School of Economics (LSE), the European Research Council (ERC) and Science Europe (SE).

Science Communication in Times of Crisis: perspectives from the social sciences and humanities

David Budtz Pedersen, Aalborg University 

In his lecture “Why science matters for policy”, the UK Government Chief Science Adviser Dr Patrick Vallance said: “Expertise without knowledge about the behavioural and historical context in which policy change will happen, is doomed to fail …“. The covid-19 pandemic is a case in time. It is a communications emergency as much as a medical crisis. Problems that need to be addressed by policy-makers are characterised not only by data and epidemiological models but by the cultural, communicative and cognitive environment in which the crisis is unfolding. Contested values, uncertainties, decision-making and behavioural design need to be part of the evidence that informs government policy. Without integrating interdisciplinary knowledge about communication, culture and behaviour, the implications of the current crisis is difficult to comprehend and mitigate. The insights of historians, philosophers, psychologists and others are needed more than ever to advise policy-makers.

David Budtz Pedersen is Professor of Science Communication and Director of the Humanomics Research Centre at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research focuses on science communication, impact assessment, and science and technology policy. He is the Principal Investigator of ‘Responsible Impact’ (2016-2020), ‘Open Research Analytics’ (2018-2021) and ‘Mapping the Public Value of Humanities’ (2017-2021). He is the Chair of the EU Commission COST Expert Group on Science Communication. Alongside his research, David is adviser to the Danish Government and European Commission, dealing with Open Science, research impact and science advice. In 2019, he was appointed member of the Danish Governments’ Commission on Rewards and Reputation in Research.

Daniel Carey, MRIA, is Director of the Moore Institute for the Humanities and Social Studies at NUI Galway and Professor of English in the School of English and Creative Arts. He is a Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy and a board member of the Irish Research Council. He was Chair of the Irish Humanities Alliance 2014-16.