Social sciences to take centre stage in debate on global grand challenges
London, 1 November 2017
Springer Nature is joining with the Economic and Social Research Council to explore the role social science research is playing in tackling some of the global grand challenges. At an event to mark the launch of the 15th annual ESRC Festival of Social Science, a high-profile panel of social science experts will look at the important role research plays beyond academia, discussing how research can address issues such as climate change, economics, race, migration, health and interdisciplinarity.
Hosted by Laurie Taylor of BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed, the event’s panel will include:
- Professor Lord Nicholas Stern – Chair, ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
- Professor Shamit Saggar CBE – Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex
- Professor Felicity Callard – Director, Birkbeck Institute for Social Research
Springer Nature’s Chief Publishing Officer Steven Inchcoombe said: “Addressing these complex societal challenges requires good social science. But today’s social scientists face their own challenges, including an abundance of content, a need to work across disciplines, and a ‘post-truth’ society in which appeals to emotion and personal belief can sway policy more than objective facts. I am delighted Springer Nature is partnering with the ESRC and leading the discussion on the real world impact of research around global grand challenges, and how we address them.
“To support these researchers, Springer Nature works to smooth publication processes, drive the development of open research, and communicate research in innovative ways. Through several of our imprints, we have a long heritage of social science publishing, and the expertise we now hold in these fields enables us to combine long-standing editorial quality and integrity with larger and more global dissemination and smarter techniques for measuring real and significant impact – the essential theme of this evening.”
Attendees will include opinion leaders, policymakers, researchers and citizens who care about the impact of social sciences on climate change, global health, sustainable urban development, the digitally transformed world, resource security, and more. Those not able to attend the event in person are encouraged to contribute to the discussion on social media using the hashtag #FOSSImpact.
This event supports Springer Nature’s commitment to addressing global grand challenges and is part of Palgrave Macmillan’s ‘Social Science Matters’ campaign, which provides a platform for researchers to discuss developments in the social science communities, promote research impact and signal their on-going, profound commitment to championing original and authoritative research within the social sciences.
