Social Sciences and Humanities for Advancing Policy in European Energy

2026-07-22

SHAPE-ENERGY “Social Sciences and Humanities for Advancing Policy in European Energy” will develop Europe’s expertise in using and applying energy-SSH to accelerate the delivery of Europe’s Energy Union Strategy. Our consortium brings together 7 leading academic partners and 6 highly respected policy, industry and communications practitioners from across the Energy, Social Sciences and Humanities (energy-SSH) research field, to create an innovative and inclusive Platform. Our partners are involved in numerous European energy projects, have extensive, relevant networks in the energy domain, and represent exceptional coverage across SSH disciplines across Europe. These enable us to maximise the impact of our Platform delivery within an intensive 2-year project. SHAPE-ENERGY brings together those who ‘demand’ energy-SSH research and those who ‘supply’ that research to collaborate in ‘shaping’ Europe’s energy future. A key deliverable will be a “2020-2030 research and innovation agenda” to underpin post-Horizon 2020 energy-focused work programmes. It will highlight how energy-SSH can be better embedded into energy policymaking, innovation and research in the next decade. Our SHAPE-ENERGY Platform activities will involve >12,114 stakeholders and begin with scoping activities including: an academic workshop, call for evidence, interviews with business leaders and NGOs, online citizen debates and multi-level policy meetings. We will build on our scoping to then deliver: 18 multi-stakeholder workshops in cities across Europe, an Early Stage Researcher programme, Horizon 2020 sandpits, interdisciplinary think pieces, a research design challenge, and a pan-European conference. Our expert consortium will bring their considerable expertise to overcome difficulties in promoting interdisciplinary and cross-sector working, and reach out to new parts of Europe to create an inclusive, dynamic and open Platform. SHAPE-ENERGY will drive forward Europe’s low carbon energy future.

United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Türkiye, Czechia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden

2026-01-15