Grand challenges ‘require social science response’

Governments must not ignore the social sciences when they marshal researchers to address grand challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, housing pressures, energy security and social inequality, a new report says – but the social sciences must also step up by offering solutions rather than just critiquing problems.

The Australian paper argues for “dedicated funding mechanisms” that support “action-oriented” social science research, with social science expertise integrated into transformation agendas “from the outset”.

The report synthesises ideas thrashed out during roundtables in Melbourne in April. It reflects a growing sense that humanity’s most pressing problems – such as global warming and pandemic response – are framed as “purely technological” issues that can be fixed with new devices or vaccines, when the real challenge lies in people’s attitudes to those things.

Australian chief scientist Tony Haymet told the group that the major barriers often lay around behaviour, trust and collective action rather than technological feasibility. For many contemporary societal challenges, “the science is done”, Haymet said. “It’s all social science.”

The report says many challenge-led initiatives in Australia “rely predominantly on techno-economic framings of innovation and relatively narrow assumptions about how transformation occurs. Questions relating to governance, public legitimacy, social acceptance, participation, inequality, institutional change, place-based diversity, political contestation and indigenous knowledges often remain underdeveloped or marginal.”

It is far from a uniquely Australian conundrum. A 2020 study found that just 5 per cent of the $45 billion (£33 billion) spent on climate research over the previous three decades had gone towards behavioural aspects of climate mitigation.

Report co-author Rob Raven said recent statistics showed that Australian university expenditure on research into human society was barely one-third of the amount dedicated to engineering, and less than one-fifth of the amount directed to biomedical and clinical sciences. Overall, the social sciences attracted less than one-quarter of Australian Research Council funding.

“Social sciences can provide evidence about community responses, social norms and behaviours,” he said. “They can identify risks and unintended consequences of new technologies that might otherwise be overlooked.

“Too often, social scientists are invited into innovation projects late, perhaps to communicate a new technology or encourage public acceptance after technological development is considered done.”

John Thwaites, professor of practice in sustainability at Monash University and a former deputy premier of Victoria, said behaviour, institutions and politics were often harder to navigate than technical challenges.

Thwaites said that during his time in government, he had been “surprised at how little input scientists and researchers – including social science researchers – had on government policy”.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com