Podcast No 3, 2025: Towards Society

In our podcast, Malwina Gębalska and Barbara Świątkowska talk about initiatives supporting science: the candidate partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience and the Science & Society Initiative.

Research must respond to the most important social challenges as well as include a wide array of stockholders, including decision makers, social organisations and citizens. This approach is supported by the European candidate partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience (STR) coordinated by the National Science Centre, and the Science & Society Initiative funded under the EEA and Norway Funds. The two initiatives are discussed by Malwina Gębalska and Barbara Świątkowska in the latest NCN podcast hosted by Anna Korzekwa-Józefowicz.

European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience

The Social Transformations and Resilience partnership will be formed on the initiative of the European Commission to respond environmental, technological, and demographic changes and unexpected shocks, such as pandemic or war in Ukraine.

“The Partnership aims to make Europe more resilient to changes that are already happening and help societies overcome them fairly and efficiently,” says Malwina Gębalska, STR coordinator at the National Science.

The Partnership will focus on four impact areas: 

1. modernisation of social protection systems and essential services,
2. future of work,
3. fostering education and skills development,
4. fair transition towards climate.

“We believe political decisions should be based on knowledge, evidence and research. Evidence-based policy making is the key element of the partnership,” says the coordinator. “At the STR, research must impact public policies and be performed in close cooperation with the stakeholders”.

The STR is a long-term initiative. The partnership will operate for a period of 10 years and be co-budgeted by the Member States and European Commission (the latter will provide funding of 30%). At present, the partnership is co-created by 9 countries, including Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy and France. The National Science Centre will coordinate the partnership as the first institution from the widening countries (i.e. countries that joined the EU after 2004 as well as Greece and Portugal).

“European partnerships are more than just calls for research projects, they are a step ahead – towards the society,” says Malwina Gębalska. “In the calls, we will require scientific excellence but also involvement of non-academic partners and social implications of research”.

Current state of affairs and involvement

The partnership is currently under preparation and will be formed by the end of 2026. The National Science Centre’s responsibilities include the development of an action plan and budge, while the German research agency coordinates the development of the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA).

“We consult the agenda with a wide array of stakeholders and encourage researchers, as well as representatives of ministries, business and social organisations to take part in the surveys and workshops,” says Malwina Gębalska.

Each priority will be the subject of a separate survey and workshop. Poland was among the three most active respondents of a survey on the future of work.

“We aim to make the Polish environment heard and impact the final wording of the agenda. This is an opportunity for us to have our experience, challenges and strengths included,” underlines Malwina Gębalska.

Calls for proposals under the STR Partnership will be launched at the end of 2027 and beginning of 2028.

Science and Society

The Science & Society Initiative is performed under the third edition of the EEA and Norway Grants. It is not just a research project but a range of actions to foster cooperation between the researchers and society, where research results are co-developed instead being merely disseminated,” says Barbara Świątkowska from the EEA and Norway Grants Team at the National Science Centre.

Owing to savings and reimbursements in previous projects, the NCN provided a grant opportunity to 11 Polish and Norwegian research teams that have formerly performed projects under GRIEG and IdeaLab. Additional funding can be allocated to social activities, such as:   

• workshops with teachers
• cooperation with NGOs and public institutions
• development of educational materials or online tools
• organisation of debates, events, exhibitions

“This is not promotion of science as such but true cooperation with teachers, hospital and museums. We work together to put knowledge into practice,” says Barbara Świątkowska.

Examples of actions under the Science & Society Initiative:

• In the project on civil society and well-being, researchers and teachers work together to produce an exercise book for students to develop openness, social involvement and curiosity
• A team studying disinformation works on an online test to help users identify their vulnerability to manipulation and better understand online disinformation.

The outcome will be known in May, upon the completion of the initiative and analysis of the final reports. 

“For us, it is not only a conclusion but also also a starting point to plan new operations for the next edition of the EEA and Norway Grants,” says Barbara Świątkowska. “We are interested in exploring what cooperation would be possible and how we could support it.”

What next?

The EEA and Norway Funds will be continued. The MoU for the new edition will be signed in Spring 2025 and the first calls for proposals will be launched in 2006 .

“We are hoping for the two programmes to be complementary. Green transition, education, democracy and social resilience are common and equally important to the STR partnership and the EEA and Norway Grants,” emphasises Barbara Świątkowska.

The two teams (STR partnership and EEA and Norway Grants) conduct joint analyses, meetings and workshops. We are intending to better understand the needs of the scientific community and design calls for proposals and additional activities to address the current challenges. The first workshop was held in Warsaw, on 1 April. 

“We will start with social sciences and humanities which are indispensable for understanding and supporting social changes,” says Malwina Gębalska. “It is the purpose of the STR partnership and future initiatives to change the way of thinking about research and see it as a tool fostering society rather than an end in itself.”

You can find out more on the Social Transformations and Resilience Partnership and Science & Society Initiative in our latest podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.