News

Getting Collaborative Social Science Published
The way we do social science research is changing. Funders are showing a growing interest in collaborative, interdisciplinary research which is leading to increasing numbers of cross-disciplinary projects receiving funding. Many Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are involved in these projects and, in the 'publish or perish' climate of academia, getting this non-traditional content published is a new challenge for them to overcome.  A panel discussion with three UCL researchers, convened by the Collaborative Social Science Domain, offered a number of insights. Click here to read their presentations

Social Science Plus 2018-19
We offer £10,000 for a social science led cross-disciplinary pilot project that will lay the basis for a major external funding application. Applications must be led by a Principal Investigator who is a UCL social scientist (based in any UCL dept. or faculty) in collaboration with a maximum of two UCL Co-Investigators. One of the Co-Investigators must be a UCL non-social scientist from across the disciplinary spectrum. Application deadline: 10am on Thursday, 4 October 2018. Further details

2017-18 Social Science Plus Pilot Projects
The Collaborative Social Science Domain's Social Science Plus scheme - for social science led pilot projects that lay the basis for external funding applications - will be supporting two projects (£10K each) in 2017-18.  Please contact the Principal investigator if you are interested in these projects:

Digital Touch Emoticons: Development, Effectiveness and Usability
Social Science Principal Investigator: Professor Carey Jewitt Professor Technology and Learning, Culture Communication and Media Department/ UCL Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education, UCL Digital Touch Emoticons will bring together experts on touch from social science, neuroscience and computer science with the aim to understand how affective touch can be digitally-mediated to enhance social communication and positive social feedback. The project will use methods from these three disciplines to generate a prototype design and explore how a device for digital touch communication could be best commercialized in the near future. Further Details

The Implications of the Internet of Things (IoT) on Victims of Gender-Based Domestic Violence and Abuse (G-IoT)
Social Science Principle Investigator: Dr. Leonie Tanczer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, Engineering Sciences, BEAMS, UCL An increasing number of household devices are now "smart" in that they contain sensors, record activity, and share and store data - from teddy bears, door locks to smart TVs. However, little research exists on the gender-based implications such devices have in the context of the domestic household and, specifically, intimate controlling behaviour like gender-based violence and abuse. Further details

· Funding permitted, we hope to run the scheme again for academic year 2018-19.  Make sure that you sign-up for our newsletter and Tweets so that you will know when the next call opens

Launch Report: UCL's Collaborative Social Science Domain
UCL's Collaborative Social Science Domain (CSSD) was officially launched at an event on 12 December 2017. The event attracted an audience of around 130 researchers from across UCL and was hosted by Professor Alison Fuller, CSSD Chair and Pro Director (Research and Development), Institute of Education, UCL. Presentations by Professor James Wilsdon, Brokers and boundary-spanners: the changing role of the social sciences in the UK research landscape, and Dr Nicholas Firth, Can the Amazon Echo be used in the home to help those living with dementia?, are available from the CSSD website along with a message from Alison Fuller.

Researchfish Submission 2018
A reminder to Principal Investigators on a UK Research Council funded research grant/fellowship that it is a condition of continued Research Council funding that they record and submit up-to-date details of their research outputs and outcomes via researchfish; You will find updated information on the process, deadlines and reporting window here (your UCL login and password is needed)

Can the Amazon Echo be used in the home to help those living with dementia?
5.30pm on Tuesday 12 December 2017
A presentation by Dr Nicholas Firth (Centre for Medical Imaging, UCL Computer Science)

People with dementia face many challenges to their independence as the condition progresses, often relying increasingly on their caregivers for tasks which had previously been very simple, such as managing appointments and shopping lists.  In this presentation, Nicholas Firth will describe his Collaborative Social Science Domain (CSSD) funded project, Echoes Around the Home, which tested how voice-assistant technology, namely the Amazon Echo, may be able to facilitate independence for people with dementia. Further details and registration

£10,000 for pilot projects that lay basis for external funding applications
UCL's Collaborative Social Science Domain's Social Science Plus funding scheme offers £10,000 to support an innovative, challenge-driven, cross-disciplinary pilot project that will lay the basis for a major external funding application.  Applications must be led by a Principal Investigator who is a UCL social scientist (based in any UCL dept. or faculty) in collaboration with a maximum of two Co-Investigators. One of the Co-Investigators must be a UCL non-social scientist from across the disciplinary spectrum.  All applicants must be at post-doctoral level (equivalent) or above.  Costed activities must be paid for by 31 July 2018.  

• Closing date: 9am, Wednesday, 10 January 2018.
• Further details
• Published: 30 October 2017

New version of Social Science Plus+ for 2017-18
A revised version of our funding scheme will be launched in academic year 2017-18 in late October/ early November 2017.  This scheme will offer £10,000 for cross disciplinary pilot projects led by UCL social scientists collaborating with UCL researchers from across the disciplinary spectrum which will lay the basis for an external funding application.

• Make sure that you sign-up for our email updates and Tweets to receive further details about this new scheme
  Published: 2 October 2017

Launch of UCL's Collaborative Social Science Domain (CSSD)
5.30pm to 7.30pm, Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Supporting social scientists across the disciplinary spectrum at UCL
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1,Basement, Cruciform Building, UCL, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Hosted by Professor Alison Fuller, CSSD Chair and Pro Director (Research and Development), Institute of Education, UCL

• Further details
  Published: 25 July 2017

Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel announced
Professor Dame Athene Donald will chair the Research Excellence Framework Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel The Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel (IDAP) has been established to advise the REF team, REF panel chairs and the UK funding bodies on the approach to support the submission and assessment of interdisciplinary research in the REF. Further details
Published: 10 April 2017

Blog post: Assessing interdisciplinary research: Would you accept the challenge?
Professor Dame Athene Donald reflects on the challenges of assessing interdisciplinary research. Further details
Published: 10 April 2017

Generating ideas for interdisciplinary research
Sir Alan Wilson's views from his 'Tricks of the Trade' workshop about the foundations of research planning which support originality and ambition within interdisciplinary frameworks Further details
Published: 27 March 2017

Collaborative Social Science for Extraordinary Times by Jan Kubik
"A crisis is a terrible thing to waste," ventured the Stanford economist Paul Romer in 2004. This bon mot, not entirely original, pithily summarises the essence of the intellectual ferment that led to the founding of modern social sciences. Reflecting on the dramatically changing world at the turn of 19th and 20th centuries, the likes of Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Polanyi, and Malinowski fashioned the foundations of today's sociology, anthropology, political science, and many strands of economics. We do not pretend to be equal to these giants, but we are driven by a similar sense of urgency.  Further details
Published: 20 March 2017