The Social Sciences & Humanities for Climate, Energy aNd Transport Research Excellence (SSH CENTRE) project brings together 13 leading organisations from across the EU, including: 3 universities, 4 research institutions, 2 stakeholder network organisations, and 4 R&I and communications SMEs. Our partners bring world-leading expertise across SSH and STEM disciplines applied to climate, energy and mobility, covering neutrality, community-led initiatives, heating and cooling, circular economy and sufficiency, and digital technologies. Partners will reach 228,880+ stakeholders by leveraging their significant experience in transdisciplinarity and citizen engagement, and networks that span academia, policymakers at various levels, the private sector, civil society and citizens. Our objectives directly address the call challenge with an aim to support cross-sectoral collaborations and empowerment of citizens and networks towards the development of socially innovative solutions for the EU’s climate transition. Issues related to Open Science, inclusivity and diversity – especially with regards Southern and Eastern Europe and different career stages – are at the heart of the project. SSH CENTRE will meet its objectives through a set of 7 carefully-designed Work Packages. Key activities involve: development of novel SSH-STEM collaborations to facilitate the delivery of the EU Green Deal; SSH knowledge brokerage to support regions in transition; and the effective design of strategies for citizen engagement in EU R&I activities. Outputs include action-led agendas and building stakeholder synergies through regular Policy Insight events. The high-profile virtual SSH CENTRE, and its 660+ members, will thus represent a ‘go-to' gateway for Cluster 5 SSH research excellence, delivering inclusive governance and engagement approaches. The Centre will generate and share best practice for SSH policy advice, overcoming fragmentation to accelerate the EU’s journey to a sustainable future.

SHAPE-ENERGY “Social Sciences and Humanities for Advancing Policy in European Energy” will develop Europe’s expertise in using and applying energy-SSH to accelerate the delivery of Europe’s Energy Union Strategy. Our consortium brings together 7 leading academic partners and 6 highly respected policy, industry and communications practitioners from across the Energy, Social Sciences and Humanities (energy-SSH) research field, to create an innovative and inclusive Platform. Our partners are involved in numerous European energy projects, have extensive, relevant networks in the energy domain, and represent exceptional coverage across SSH disciplines across Europe. These enable us to maximise the impact of our Platform delivery within an intensive 2-year project. SHAPE-ENERGY brings together those who ‘demand’ energy-SSH research and those who ‘supply’ that research to collaborate in ‘shaping’ Europe’s energy future. A key deliverable will be a “2020-2030 research and innovation agenda” to underpin post-Horizon 2020 energy-focused work programmes. It will highlight how energy-SSH can be better embedded into energy policymaking, innovation and research in the next decade. Our SHAPE-ENERGY Platform activities will involve >12,114 stakeholders and begin with scoping activities including: an academic workshop, call for evidence, interviews with business leaders and NGOs, online citizen debates and multi-level policy meetings. We will build on our scoping to then deliver: 18 multi-stakeholder workshops in cities across Europe, an Early Stage Researcher programme, Horizon 2020 sandpits, interdisciplinary think pieces, a research design challenge, and a pan-European conference. Our expert consortium will bring their considerable expertise to overcome difficulties in promoting interdisciplinary and cross-sector working, and reach out to new parts of Europe to create an inclusive, dynamic and open Platform. SHAPE-ENERGY will drive forward Europe’s low carbon energy future.