Climate change, food security, migration, digital transformation and democratic resilience are among the defining challenges of our time. Yet despite their complexity, research, innovation and policymaking are still often organised within disciplinary and expertise boundaries, even if this is gradually changing.
But can we really solve such complex challenges by looking at them through a single lens?
This is not a call to blur the boundaries between disciplines or diminish the value of specialised expertise. Every discipline has its own methods, communities and ways of producing knowledge. Researchers are not expected to become generalists, nor should disciplines lose the depth that makes them valuable in the first place.
But today's challenges rarely fit neatly within a single field of expertise. They emerge from a complex interplay of technological, environmental, economic, social and cultural factors. Addressing them requires different disciplines to work together, bringing their perspectives into dialogue while maintaining their distinct strengths. And while there are many valuable examples of such cross-disciplinary work, particularly in STEM fields, more widely adopted frameworks and best practices remain comparatively scarce.
Moreover, addressing contemporary challenges also requires not simply the involvement of different disciplines and methods, but also the involvement of the people directly affected by those issues.
Engaging with diverse communities not just at the end of the research and innovation process, but from its very beginning, is essential to developing effective, sustainable and people-centred solutions.
These questions are at the heart of the SOCIETY innovation ecosystem of the EURICE Group. The ecosystem brings together expertise in areas such as democracy, inclusion, education, migration, societal resilience, citizen engagement and policy uptake, while also supporting the integration of perspectives from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) across broader research and innovation domains.
Because if we think of all the challenges listed at the beginning, we immediately recognise that each has dimensions that go far beyond the scientific or technological realm; dimensions that are also deeply social. Whether developing new digital tools, designing sustainable food systems or supporting climate adaptation, success depends on far more than technical excellence. It depends on how solutions interact with people's behaviours, values, institutions and everyday realities.
It is the SSH that can best help ensure that knowledge does not remain confined to laboratories or policy papers, but is translated into solutions that are relevant, trusted and ultimately adopted by society. Through SSH methods, citizens, policymakers, businesses and civil society organisations can participate in shaping innovation throughout the process, rather than being treated merely as end users.
This shift reflects a growing understanding of what we consider value in innovation. Is it simply technological breakthroughs and commercial applications? Or is it also better policies, stronger communities, new forms of collaboration, behavioural change and more informed decision-making?
This growing recognition is also reflected at the European level. The European Commission has recently launched a new Community of Practice focused on increasing the uptake of multidisciplinary research results.
The initiative brings together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and other innovation actors to exchange experiences and co-create recommendations on how different forms of research can generate meaningful value for society.
The creation of this Community of Practice reflects a broader shift in how research design and impact are understood. We at the EURICE Group have been proud to participate in the preparatory workshop for the establishment of this community and cannot wait to see where it leads. With our long-standing experience in impact strategy, stakeholder engagement, dissemination, exploitation and policy-oriented research support, we are well placed to contribute to this debate and to help translate multidisciplinary knowledge into tangible societal value.
We invite our readers to stay tuned as we share more updates on a topic that may seem rather theoretical, yet has the potential to improve our lives in some of the most effective and people-centred ways: the valorisation and uptake of multidisciplinary research.