1. Thematic Priorities in the Social Sciences A Survey of Public Funding in East and West 2004-2008 by Hans-Dieter Klingemann Social Science Research Center Berlin and Olivier Ruchet Sciences Po Paris ESF Forward Look Consensus Conference Central and Eastern Europe beyond Transition: Convergence and Divergence in Europe Social Science Research Center Berlin 16-17 February 2011 1

2. Four questions: 1 What are the thematic priorities in the Social Sciences of the projects funded by national European science foundations in the period of 2004 to 2008? 2 Are there significant differences in thematic emphases between science foundations located in Western Europe on the one hand and in Central & Eastern Europe on the other? 2

3. 3 Four questions: 3What are the thematic priorities in the Social Sciences of the projects funded by national European science foundations in the period of 2004 to 2008 classified as typical CEE? 4Are there significant differences in thematic emphases of projects classified as typical CEE between science foundations located in Western Europe on the one hand and in Central & Eastern Europe on the other?

4. 4 Two expectations: 1 Thematic priorities of national foundations differ in the two parts of Europe because social science research is still confronted with a specific problem agenda caused by societal and political transformation in Central & Eastern Europe. 2 Thematic priorities of national foundations do not differ systematically between foundations in East and West because the problem agenda facing academic research has become increasingly similar. A growing European and global professional discourse as well as incentives provided by transnational European funding contribute to this development.

5. 5 The ESF Survey as the data base

6. 6 National science foundations covered in Western Europe: N projects FWFAustrian Science Fund 262 FWOResearch Foundation Flanders, Belgium 163 AFAcademy of Finland 252 DFGGerman Research Foundation 767 FCTFoundation for Science and Technology, 133 Portugal ESRCEconomic and Social Research Council, UK 808 Total2385

7. 7 National science foundations covered in Central and Eastern Europe: N projects ASCRAcademy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 38 GACRCzech Science Foundation 252 ETFEstonian Science Foundation 35 OTKAHungarian Scientific Research Fund 284 LZALatvian Academy of Sciences 60 LMTResearch Council of Lithuania 43 MNSWPolish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 648 UEFISCSUExecutive Agency for Higher Education 447 and Research, Romania SAVSlovak Academy of Sciences 80 ARRSSlovenian Research Agency 41 Total1928

8. European science foundations: N projects EUFPEU Framework Programmes 6&7245 ERCEuropean Research Council 85 ESFEuropean Science Foundation 51 Total381 8

9. Regional distribution of research projects N projects West European national science foundations2385 Central and East European national science1928 foundations European science foundations 381 Total4694 9

10. 10 Regional distribution of research projects classified as typical CEE N projects West European national science foundations 78 Central and East European national science 456 foundations European science foundations 53 Total 587

11. 11 Methodological issues

12. 12 Quantitative content analysis is used to specify the modal research topics of all 4694 projects by 21 categories of an inductively derived classification scheme.

13. 13 The modal research topic summarizes the substantive theme of a project and is derived from its title and from the project’s synopsis.

14. 14 The Classification Scheme For the mapping of project themes into a limited number of modal research topics we use the following classification scheme: Economics 1 Economic growth 2 Employment 3 Competition 4 Economic policies

15. 15 The Classification Scheme Political Science 5 Governance 6 Rule of law, security issues 7 Democratic institutions and processes 8 Political and social identity 9 Civic society 10 Regions, urban-rural issues, regional development 11 External relations

16. 16 The Classification Scheme Sociology 12 Demography, ageing; family 13 Education, socialization 14 Knowledge, innovation 15 Health 16 Migration; ethnic minorities 17 Social cohesion, social inequality, exclusion 18 Environment; energy; sustainability 19 Media

17. 17 The Classification Scheme General Research Issues 20 Methodology 21 Infrastructure and data bases 22 Research policies

18. 18 Answering the first question: What are the thematic priorities in the Social Sciences of the projects funded by national European science foundations in the period of 2004 to 2008? (Results based on all projects of national research foundations)

19. 19 Mode of calculation of priorities: Average of the standardized distribution (percentages) of modal research topics of each of the six foundations located in Western Europe, each of the ten foundations located in Central & Eastern Europe and of the 16 national European foundations.

20. 20 First three thematic priorities (16 foundations) Competition (10%) Methodology (8%) Economic policies (8%)

21. 21 First three thematic priorities for: Foundations located in Western EuropeCentral & Eastern Europe (6 foundations)(10 foundations) Methodology (10%)Competition (11%) Economic policies (8%)Regions … (9%) Competition (7%)Economic policies (8%)

22. 22 Results show more similarities than differences in thematic priorities between the two groups of foundations. “Economic policies” and “Competition” point to similarities while “Methodology” (WE) and “Regions; urban-rural issues; development (CEE)” point to differences. Taking into account all values of the two distributions Duncan’s coefficient of dissimilarity between WE and CEE is 18.2. This means that similarity beats dissimilarity by 82 to 18 percent.

23. 23 Answering the second question: Are there significant differences in thematic emphases between science foundations located in Western Europe on the one hand and in Central & Eastern Europe on the other? (Results based on all projects of national research foundations)

24. 24 Determining significant differences The F-test is used to determine significant differences. The between group variability is compared to the within group variability of the data. The larger the between group variability and the smaller the within group variability, the higher the probability of a significant difference.

25. 25 Significant differences in the distribution of modal research topics between foundations located in Western Europe and in Central & Eastern Europe: Foundations located in WE (6)CEE (10)Fsign. Regions; urban-rural3.6%8.7% 5.8.03 Issues; development Economic growth2.4%6.2% 5.5.03 Health6.0%2.4%12.2.00 Differences regarding the remaining 18 modal research topics of the classification scheme are not significant at the.05 level.

26. 26 Again, results show more similarities than differences Foundations located in Western Europe fund significantly more projects in the area of “Health”, while foundations located in Central and Eastern Europe fund significantly more projects in the areas of “Regions; urban- rural issues; development” and “Economic growth”. Three modal research topics signal differences, 18 modal research topics point towards similarity.

27. 27 Answering the third question: What are the thematic priorities in the Social Sciences of the projects classified as typical CEE funded by national European science foundations in the period of 2004 to 2008? (Results based on all projects of national research foundations classified as typical CEE)

28. 28 First three thematic priorities (16 foundations) Democratic institutions and processes (14%) Economic policies (11%) Migration; ethnic minorities (7%)

29. 29 First three thematic priorities for: Foundations located in Western EuropeCentral & Eastern Europe (6 foundations)(10 foundations) Democratic Economic policies (13%) Institutions … (21%) Migration … (13%)Democratic institutions … (10%) Governance (11%)Competition (10%)

30. 30 Results show more differences than similarities in thematic priorities between the two groups of foundations. “Democratic institutions and processes” point to similarities while “Migration: ethnic minorities”, “Governance” (WE) and “Economic policies” and “Competition” (CEE) point to differences. Taking into account all values of the two distributions Duncan’s coefficient of dissimilarity between WE and CEE is 40.8. This means that similarity beats dissimilarity only by 59 to 41 percent.

31. 31 Answer to the fourth question: Are there significant differences in thematic emphases of projects classified as typical CEE between science foundations located in Western Europe on the one hand and in Central & Eastern Europe on the other? (Results based on all projects of national research foundations classified as typical CEE)

32. 32 Significant differences in the distribution of modal research topics between foundations located in Western Europe and in Central & Eastern Europe of projects classified as typical CEE: Foundations located in WE (6)CEE (10)Fsign. Competition2.0%9.6%10.2.01 Social cohesion …2.3%8.2% 4.7.05 Education, socialization0.0%2.8% 5.1.04 Governance10.5%0.9% 8.1.01 Differences of the remaining 17 modal research topics of the classification scheme are not significant at the.05 level.

33. 33 Again, results show more similarities than differences Foundations located in Western Europe fund significantly more typical CEE projects in the area of “Governance”, while foundations located in Central and Eastern Europe fund significantly more typical CEE projects in the areas of “Competition”, “Social cohesion, social inequality, exclusion” and “Education, socialization”. Four modal research topics signal differences, 17 modal research topics point towards similarity.

34. 34 Summary: Similar priorities All projectsCEE related projects CompetitionDemocratic institutions and processes Economic policies

35. 35 Summary: Different priorities All projectsTypical CEE projects Methodology (WE)Migration; ethnic minorities (WE) Governance (WE) Regions; urban-ruralEconomic policies (CEE) issues; development (CEE)Competition (CEE)

36. 36 Summary: Significant differences between WE and CEE All projectsTypical CEE projects Regions; urban-rural issues;Competition (CEE) development (CEE) Social cohesion … (CEE) Economic growth (CEE) Education, Health (WE)socialization (CEE) Governance (WE)

37. 37 Conclusion There are some differences in research priorities of national foundations that support the expectation of different research agendas. However, similarities are much more characteristic of the general picture. This is in support of the expectation of similar research agendas.