Evaluation of the

Humanities at the ERC

Alain Peyraube

CNRS and EHESS (FR)

ERC Scientific Council

Relevance and Impact of the Humanities

University of Vienna, December 15-16, 2008

European Research Council

ERC – Objectives

• Frontier research: research at the frontiers, characterised by an absence of disciplinary boundaries

• Need to stimulate basic research, a vital area where Europe has been perceived to be losing its edge, using excellence as the only criterion

• Two programmes: Early Starting Grants / Advanced Grants

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ERC Starting Grants (ESG)

• 9167 proposals submitted: 1363 in HSS = 14.9%• 559 proposals selected after the 1st stage of

evaluation: 102 in HSS = 18.25%• 302 proposals granted: 57 in SHS = 18.67%

• Distribution of the budget:- 40% for Physical sciences, Engineering

sciences, Universe and Earth sciences (PE)- 35% for Biological and Life sciences (LS)- 15% for Social and Human sciences (SH)

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The Five Panels in SH for ESG

• SH-1 = Individuals and organisations - Economics, management,

demography, geography, urban and environmental studies: 379 proposals submitted / 1363 > 16 proposals funded (social sciences)

• SH-2 = Institutions, behaviour, values and beliefs - Anthropology, sociology, political science, law, communication, social studies of science and technology : 355 > 10 (social sciences)

• SH-3 = The human mind and its complexity - Cognition, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, education : 349 > 18 (humanities and social sciences)

• SH-4 = Cultures and cultural diversity - Literature, visual and performing arts, music and cultural studies : 130 > 7 (humanities)

• SH-5 = The study of the past and of cultural artefacts - Memory, history and archaeology : 150 > 6 (humanities)

European Research Council Distribution of the 1363 SH proposals by discipline

• Psycho and Neuro 158• History 114• Linguistics 87• Philosophy 52• Info-Com-Media 47• Archaeology 46• Education 40• Cultural Studies 33

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Distribution of the 1363 SH proposals by discipline (2)

• Literature 32• Classical Studies 21• Anthropology 15• Art 15• History of Art and Architecture 12• Music and Musicology 9

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Distribution of the 57 successful Distribution of the 57 successful proposals proposals

• By nationality of the PI:

9 IT, 7 DE, 7 NL, 6 FR, 5 BE, 5 UK,, 3 ES, 2 CY, 2 FI, 2 IL, 2 SE, 2 USA, 1 AT, 1 Canada, 1 China, 1 HU, 1 NO

• By country of the host institution:

17 UK, 10 NL, 6 FR, 4 DE, 4 ES, 4 IT, 2 BE, 2 CY, 2 IL, 2 SE, 1 AT, 1 BG, 1 CH, 1 FI

• By subdomain: 30 in humanities, 27 in social sciences

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Advanced Grants (AG)

• PE : 39% (instead of 45%)• LS : 34% (instead of 40%)• SH : 14% (instead of 15%)• Interdisciplinary : 13%

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Advanced Grants (AG) (2)

• 2167 projects submitted • 997 PE (46%), 766 LS (35%), 404 SH (19%)• 275 projects funded: 114 PE, 84 LS, 48 SH• Six panels for SH instead of 5• SH1 - Individuals, institutions and markets: economics,

finance and management : 79 proposals > 13 granted• SH2 - Institutions, values and beliefs and behaviour:

sociology, social anthropology, political science, law, communication, social studies of science and technology: 82 > 7

• SH3 - Environment and society: environmental studies, demography, social geography, urban and regional

studies: 19 > 2

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Advanced Grants (AG) (3)

• SH4 - The Human Mind and its complexity: cognition, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and education: 86 > 9

• SH5 - Cultures and cultural production: literature, visual and performing arts, music, cultural and comparative studies: 40 > 5

• SH6 - The study of the human past: archaeology, history and memory: 75 > 12

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Distribution of the 48 successful Distribution of the 48 successful proposals (AG)proposals (AG)

• By country of the host institution:

12 UK, 8 FR, 5 DE, 5 SP, 5 NL, 4 IT, 3 CH, 1 BE, 1 BG, 1 DK, 1 FI, 1 HU, 1 SE

• By nationality of the PI:

10 UK, 7 DE, 6 FR, 6 IT, 5 NL, 4 SP, 2 BE, 2 SE, 1 Australia, 1 BG, 1 DK, 1 EL, 1 IL, 1 USA

• By subdomain: 24 in humanities, 24 in social sciences• By discipline: 7 History, 5 Linguistics, 4 Psycho-Neuro, 3

Philo, 3 Cultural Studies, 2 Archeo

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Interdisciplinary proposals

• 29 projects granted: 11 from PE, 11 from LS, 7 from SH

• 7 SH = 4 Humanities, 3 Social sciences

2 SH-6, 1 SH-1, 1 SH-2, 1 SH-3, 1 SH-4, 1 SH-5

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How are the proposals evaluated?

• Pure peer-review method• Total confidence in the panels• Panel members and panel chairs selected and

appointed by the scientific council: long process• 1st stage: decision taken by the panel members

alone• 2nd stage: external reviewers called upon (selected

by panel chairs and members)• External reviews thoroughly discussed by panel

members before final decision made

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How are the proposals evaluated (2)?

• For the 1st stage of evaluation, only two criteria are used by the panel members to sort the proposals:

1. the track record of the PI and

2. the scientific excellence of the project .

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Track record of the candidate in the Humanities

• 10 most important publications in leading international peer-reviewed scientific journals for the last 10 years (Title, Journal, Year, Page numbers, number of citations, excluding auto-citations). For the citations, the candidate is free to use any database available.

• Up to 10 monographs published in the last 10 years (Title, Year, Publisher, ISBN, number of translations, number of reviews,).

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Track record of the candidate in the Humanities (2)

• Up to 10 invited lectures at peer-reviewed internationally established scientific conferences and/or Advanced Schools in the last 10 years (Title of contribution, Name of proceedings, Year, Number of citations)

• Up to 5 scientific research expeditions or fieldwork trips over the last 10 years (Destination, Year, Funding)

• Up to 5 memberships in Steering and/or Organising Committees for international conferences over the last 10 years (Title, Scientific association, Function, Place, Year)

• Up to 5 prizes, awards, memberships of scientific academies (Title, institution, year)

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Track record of the candidate in the Humanities (3)

• Provides a profile of the candidate who is not required to have the complete number of entries for each category.

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2nd stage of the evaluation: what are the external evaluators required to do?

• Three sections involved:

1. Evaluation of the PI (assessment of quality of research output/track record; assessment of intellectual capacity and creativity). Maximum grade of 4

2. Evaluation of research project (ground-breaking nature of research; potential impact; methodology; high-gain/high-risk balance).

Maximum grade of 4

Note: there is a threshold of 2 for each category.

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2nd stage of the evaluation: what are the external evaluators required to do? (2)

3. Research environment

No grade: Pass/Fail

The contribution to the project of the research environment is evaluated.

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Merci

Thank you !

谢谢