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I.3.3. Establishing the Centre of Excellence in Social Sciences (CESS) – info

IDUB Programme Objective(s)

  • I.3 Support for the creation of research programmes and teams that will become future centres of excellence, including plans for their internationalisation

Name of POB/activity group

Description

Objectives

The aim of this activity is to create an institutional framework to coordinate and support interdisciplinary research activities which are undertaken at the University of Warsaw in the social sciences. It aims to strengthen the research potential at the University of Warsaw so that scientific excellence can be put into practice. To a great extent, this proposal is based on the experiences of interdisciplinary units which are already operating at the University of Warsaw, which have shown that one of the possible responses to the growing competitiveness in European and world science is to move beyond the existing “silos” and use the potential of synergies in the social sciences – at the scientific and organisational level – in the most promising thematic areas.

With the allocated funds, we believe it will be possible to create an entity which is recognisable at the European level, which can become a leader in the field of social research in Central and Eastern Europe, and serve as an important partner for similar entities (IIASA, Institut für Höhere Studien, JRC Centre for Advanced Studies, and the Max Planck Institute).

In practical terms, the objectives of CESS include:

  • creating new (inter-departmental and inter-unit) thematic teams, and the integration of existing groups that are addressing key research challenges in the social sciences;
  • providing effective systems (both at the level of funding and administrative support) for preparing competitive grant applications (prestigious national grants, including NCN MAESTRO, SONATA BIS, and foreign grants such as Horizon Europe, and ERC);
  • providing methodological and practical support for young researchers and social scientists (methodology courses, academic writing, etc.);
  • initiating and maintaining cooperation with outstanding researchers from abroad;
  • creating a scientifically outstanding summer school for young researchers.

In conclusion, CESS is intended to support individual researchers and (emerging and existing) research teams, while ensuring comprehensiveness – from research initiation, through applications for funding, to international cooperation and dissemination of research results from the implemented activities. It provides a “toolkit” for the sciences.

Justification

A research response to the social challenges of today and tomorrow demands scientific excellence in a given field/discipline, the ability to innovate, and the courage to go beyond “safe” areas. Moreover, a researcher must compare results with those of other research perspectives.

The experiences of researchers at the University of Warsaw have shown that multi-disciplinary activities are creative, and allow one to achieve a strong position, both in Poland and in an international context (in terms of research projects, scientific publications and international cooperation). The output and achievements of centres like EUROREG, the Centre of Migration Research, the Institute of Social Studies, or DELab have demonstrated the great potential of researchers associated with the University. Their accomplishments also show how important it is to provide an institutional framework that facilitates/enables cooperation between various entities, including those with a particular disciplinary focus. The proposed framework should significantly increase the scale of existing cooperation between researchers from different UW entities, while avoiding the risk of “superficial” interdisciplinarity or becoming closing off in a “safe” area of expertise.

In the first phase of our activity, we intend to focus on the more global challenges, which are already present in the research that is being carried out at the University of Warsaw:

  • the growing scale of mobility and the opportunities and challenges it presents;
  • inequality (at different levels);
  • demographic changes (aging, patterns of family formation and break-up, new forms of social function, urbanisation);
  • social and economic changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic;
  • the transformation of democratic institutions;
  • attitudes – their conditioning and consequences;
  • the so-called “digital revolution” (and its consequences).

The thematic scope of the activities is consistent with the subject matter of those planned under POB V, as CESS will constitute a “hub” to serve as a base for all other activities in the field of social sciences, which are being implemented under the IDUB programme. However, the list of topics is not closed; promotional activities will be undertaken to encourage active participation (e.g., the inclusion of research teams) in the Centre.

The Centre is open in nature – and this openness will be particularly relevant to research activities. The thematic profile of CESS will be derived from the potential of the people who are involved with it and the demand for specific research (e.g., as identified in EU research programmes, such as Horizon Europe). As suggested above, the option of including CESS in one’s work will apply to individual researchers and project teams.

An important role in the process of establishing and developing the Centre will be played by a Scientific Council, made up of people representing the University of Warsaw and representatives of leading European institutes.

Tasks

Since the basic objective is to integrate members of the UW research community who are involved in interdisciplinary activities, a key task is to establish the Centre in an institutional form. In practical terms, this will mean creating the CESS Scientific Council (representing key partner units and selected foreign units), and the development of administrative facilities (including a professional research manager). The leader of the activity, in cooperation with the Scientific Council and with the support of the research manager, will develop detailed rules for the Centre’s operation to ensure the effectiveness of its activities – while also upholding the idea of inclusiveness, based on criteria for scientific excellence.

The Centre will carry out activities of a tripartite character:

  1. A “package” of tools to support the scientific careers of young researchers:
    • to initiate and promote a prestigious series of seminars, which the most renowned scientists (mainly from abroad) will be invited to;
    • to organise cyclic activities aimed at improving the analytical skills and publishing competences of social researchers at the University of Warsaw (e.g., courses in analytical methods, the use of dedicated software, and academic writing);
    • to create a mentoring programme for young social researchers;
    • to prepare and launch a summer school for young researchers (direct benchmarks are the Summer Program in Quantitative Methods in Social Research ICPSR or IZA summer schools);
    • to provide support for the mobility of young researchers, especially in connection with participation in prestigious summer schools;
    • to develop a model for creating academic career plans for young researchers; ultimately, academic career plans will include the “tools” offered under CESS, so that participation in the Centre becomes a valuable and desirable stage in the scientific careers of young researchers at the University of Warsaw.
  2. Support for innovative and interdisciplinary research projects:
    • an internal grant programme, which rewards activities of an interdisciplinary and inter-departmental nature and involves researchers from various units at the University of Warsaw; the aim of the programme will be to support large research programmes which cannot be financed from other sources (note: this is not intended to replace grant agencies, but to create space for the implementation of research at the initial stage or for those which, due to their complexity and interdisciplinary character, do not fit within the frameworks of other available competitions).
  3. The creation of an institutional framework for developing cooperation with foreign researchers:
    • Guest visits by outstanding scholars from abroad, which will lead to joint publications and/or research projects with scientists from the University of Warsaw;
    • international conferences of an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary nature.

Coordinating body

  • The Centre of Migration Research

Entities involved in implementation

  • WNE
  • Faculty of Psychology
  • ISS
  • EUROREG
  • DELab
  • Institute of Sociology
  • CIS
  • Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialisation (WSNSiR)