An international Conference on the Impact of Research Infrastructures for Social Sciences and Humanities

There is a growing consensus that it is important to be able to assess the value of research infrastructures, not only for research, but also for the society at large. But currently there is no unified framework for the impact assessment of investment in research infrastructures. Various conceptual frameworks exist in parallel comprising a range of observable direct and indirect effects and longer-term impacts, in particular economic impacts. However, most of these studies and frameworks do not concentrate on Social Sciences and Humanities. SSH Research Infrastructures are the most proper tool to take into account the future of society. Their experiences and variety stress the impact of SSH RIs beyond research: it affects the vision of decision makers and social actors. Furthermore core aspects of RI benefits, such as their impact on human and social capital formation and innovation, are not sufficiently explored. In this conference we want to focus on the societal impact of RIs for SSH, i.e. we want to discuss the broad scale of types of impact and methodologies for their assessment. On this background we invite discussion about ways to increase impact, in SSH and beyond.

The International Conference on the Impact of Research Infrastructures for Social Sciences and Humanities is organised by ESFRI Strategic Working Group on Social and Cultural Innovation in collaboration with Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna.