In line with the “Responsible Research and Innovation” guidelines that have steered European funding programmes for science, projects in a wide range of scientific areas have been encouraged to incorporate a dimension involving non-specialist audiences. On the other hand, the controversies sparked by the emergence of new technologies with poorly understood risks have drawn attention to the need to incorporate social acceptance/acceptability studies.

It is in this context that the social sciences have been called upon to participate in technoscience projects. While this participation was mentioned as desirable in the calls for proposals a few years ago, it has recently become practically obligatory.

At a time of shrinking funding for the social sciences, this opportunity to participate in projects in other areas cannot be anything but welcome as an opportunity to explore interdisciplinary collaborations. However, it is not without its risks. From tokenism to expectations of manipulating public opinion, from the diminishing of soft scientific disciplines to questions about the neutrality of researchers, there are many pitfalls that social scientists have to navigate in this type of project.

This presentation aims to discuss the risks and benefits of involving the social sciences based on the experience of various European and national projects in collaboration with natural science and engineering teams.

Bio note

Ana Delicado holds a PhD in Sociology and is a senior researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). She has coordinated national research projects and the ICS team in European projects on a variety of topics, from science communication to scientific associations, from renewable energies to climate change mitigation technologies, from the involvement of children and young people in disaster risk prevention to digital technology use practices. She is a lecturer and coordinator of curricular units for the doctoral programme in Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies and the Master’s Degree in Scientific Culture and Science Dissemination. She is a visiting assistant professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, teaching the Technology and Society course. Delicado has developed multiple activities to involve the public in the social sciences and is a member of the ICS University Outreach Commission.