Call for expressions of interest in applying for an MSCA postdoctoral fellowship at SB Science Management  

– Interdisciplinary Research at SBSM

If you are interested in conducting your MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF) within SBSM, we warmly encourage you to contact us. We particularly welcome proposals that foster meaningful collaboration between Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics including natural sciences, life sciences, and digital technologies).

As research and innovation increasingly address complex societal challenges, interdisciplinary collaboration has become essential. The transition towards a knowledge-based and innovation-driven society is accompanied by growing expectations for science to generate socially relevant, inclusive, and sustainable solutions. Consequently, European and international funding frameworks increasingly promote the integration of SSH perspectives, methods, and practices into STEM and life science research.

At the same time, effective interdisciplinary collaboration remains challenging. Researchers from SSH and STEM fields often work with different methodological traditions, epistemologies, terminologies, and expectations regarding research design, participation, impact, and dissemination. These differences can lead to communication barriers, misunderstandings, and difficulties in developing genuinely integrated research approaches.

Moreover, researchers in natural and life sciences are increasingly expected to incorporate participatory and socially responsive approaches — such as stakeholder engagement, citizen science, co-creation, science communication, ethics, responsible research and innovation (RRI), and open science practices — into their projects. However, they frequently lack the methodological training, frameworks, or practical tools necessary for meaningful implementation.

We are therefore particularly interested in projects that:

• strengthen communication and collaboration between SSH and STEM disciplines;
• develop transferable interdisciplinary methods, frameworks, or training approaches;
• support socially responsive and participatory research practices;
• improve the integration of SSH expertise into scientific and technological innovation processes;
• contribute to responsible, sustainable, and societally beneficial research and innovation.

Successful candidates are expected to work closely with researchers from both SSH and STEM disciplines in order to co-develop practical tools, guidelines, handbooks, communication strategies, or participatory models that are scientifically robust, mutually accessible, and societally relevant.