RETOUCH NEXUS Contributes to the Horizon Europe Reality Check on SHH Integration

On 27 November 2025, the European Commission’s DG RTD organised the Reality Check on “Key success factors in the implementation of non-financial obligations on Social Science and Humanities Integration in Horizon Europe” in Brussels. The event brought together Horizon Europe project coordinators and beneficiaries, National Contact Points, Programme Committee members, evaluators and the other stakeholders to discuss how Social Sciences and Humanities (SHH) integration can be strenghthened and made more effective across Horizon Europe projects.

RETOUCH NEXUS at the Reality Check

The Reality Check highlighted the growing importance of SSH within Horizon Europe. Between 2021 and 2023, around 40% of topics in Horizon Europe thematic programmes were SSH-flagged, representing 41% of the total Pillar II budget. Nearly 90% of projects funded under SSH-flagged topics involved at least one SSH partner, underlining the central role of interdisciplinary approaches in addressing complex societal challenges. 

Moving from Integration to Meaningful Collaboration

One of the key messages emerging from the event was that SSH integration should go beyond formal compliance or “box-ticking”. Successful integration requires early collaboration, shared objectives, a common vacabulary and a genuine understanding of different disciplinary methodologies. The discussion also highlighted the importance of sharing ownership of project activities and ensuring that SSH researchers are involved in core research rather than being brought in only for validation, communication, or other supporting tasks.

These reflections are particularly relevant to RETOUCH NEXUS, which brings together expertise from different disciplines and sectors to address complex challenges related to water governance through the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus.

Strengthening Interdisciplinarity in Horizon Europe

The Reality Check also put forward recommendations for strengthening SSH integration across the Horizon Europe project cycle. Among them were giving greater attention to SSH already during topic development, strengthening evaluators’ SSH expertise, and shifting monitoring from quantitative measures towards assessing the quality and impact of SSH integration and its contribution to project results.

For RETOUCH NEXUS, contributing to this discussion was an opportunity to share project experience while learning from other Horizon Europe initiatives facing similar interdisciplinary challenges. The event reinforced the importance of creating genuine connections between different fields of expertise to develop research that is not only scientifically robust, but also relevant, applicable and responsive to societal needs.

The European Commission will continue to support SSH integration in Horizon Europe by promoting interdisciplinarity and strengthening awareness of opportunities to bridge STEM and SSH disciplines, including through activities linked to the upcoming Work Programmes.