Energy social sciences & humanities innovation forum targeting the set-plan
Energy-SHIFTS “Energy Social sciences & Humanities Innovation Forum Targeting the SET-Plan” will contribute to a European Energy Union that places societal needs centrally, by further developing Europe’s leadership in using and applying energy-related Social Sciences and Humanities (energy-SSH). Our consortium brings together 4 leading interdisciplinary research institutes with 3 highly respected policy, industry and communications organisations from across the energy-SSH field, to create an innovative and inclusive Forum. Our partners have significant energy-SSH H2020 project experience, direct working links with the EU’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) communities, extensive networks in the energy domain, and represent excellent coverage across SSH disciplines and across Europe. These will enable us to maximise the impact of our Forum delivery within an intensive 2-year project. Energy-SHIFTS activities will target over 10,000 stakeholders and begin with scoping activities including: accessible guides to SSH in EU policy; workshops on SSH priority themes; online policyworker and researcher databases. We will build on this scoping work to implement: 4 Working Groups across SET-Plan themes; a Policy Fellowship scheme; an Early-Stage Researcher programme; masterclasses for policy, NGO, STEM, and media audiences; 4 online citizen debates; and a pan-European conference.  Our consortium will bring their considerable expertise in research-policy dialogue to these activities. Our core activities will both provide immediate insights for the short-term directions of EU energy policy as well as foundations for longer-term mechanisms that will enable evidence-based energy-SSH insights to reach the ‘policy front line’.  As a central body bringing SSH communities together, we will work to directly inform future FP9 and SET-Plan priorities. Energy-SHIFTS will significantly enhance the policy impact of energy-SSH, and accelerate shifts to low-carbon energy systems.