Evaluation of the Humanities at the ERC Alain Peyraube CNRS and EHESS (FR) ERC Scientific Council  Relevance and Impact of the Humanities University of Vienna, December 15-16, 2008

European Research Council ERC – Objectives Frontier research: research at the frontiers, characterised by an absence of disciplinary boundaries Need to stimulate basic research, a vital area where Europe has been perceived to be losing its edge, using excellence as the only criterion Two programmes: Early Starting Grants / Advanced Grants

European Research Council │ 3 ERC Starting Grants (ESG) 9167 proposals submitted: 1363 in HSS = 14.9% 559 proposals selected after the 1st stage of evaluation: 102 in HSS = 18.25% 302 proposals granted: 57 in SHS = 18.67% Distribution of the budget: -40% for Physical sciences, Engineering sciences, Universe and Earth sciences (PE) -35% for Biological and Life sciences (LS) -15% for Social and Human sciences (SH)

European Research Council │ 4 The Five Panels in SH for ESG SH-1 = Individuals and organisations - Economics, management, demography, geography, urban and environmental studies: 379 proposals submitted / 1363 > 16 proposals funded (social sciences) SH-2 = Institutions, behaviour, values and beliefs - Anthropology, sociology, political science, law, communication, social studies of science and technology : 355 > 10 (social sciences) SH-3 = The human mind and its complexity - Cognition, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, education : 349 > 18 (humanities and social sciences) SH-4 = Cultures and cultural diversity - Literature, visual and performing arts, music and cultural studies : 130 > 7 (humanities) SH-5 = The study of the past and of cultural artefacts - Memory, history and archaeology : 150 > 6 (humanities)

European Research Council Distribution of the 1363 SH proposals by discipline Psycho and Neuro 158 History 114 Linguistics 87 Philosophy 52 Info-Com-Media 47 Archaeology 46 Education 40 Cultural Studies 33

European Research Council Distribution of the 1363 SH proposals by discipline (2) Literature 32 Classical Studies 21 Anthropology 15 Art 15 History of Art and Architecture 12 Music and Musicology 9

European Research Council │ 7 Distribution of the 57 successful proposals By nationality of the PI: 9 IT, 7 DE, 7 NL, 6 FR, 5 BE, 5 UK,, 3 ES, 2 CY, 2 FI, 2 IL, 2 SE, 2 USA, 1 AT, 1 Canada, 1 China, 1 HU, 1 NO By country of the host institution: 17 UK, 10 NL, 6 FR, 4 DE, 4 ES, 4 IT, 2 BE, 2 CY, 2 IL, 2 SE, 1 AT, 1 BG, 1 CH, 1 FI By subdomain: 30 in humanities, 27 in social sciences

European Research Council Advanced Grants (AG) PE : 39% (instead of 45%) LS : 34% (instead of 40%) SH : 14% (instead of 15%) Interdisciplinary : 13%

European Research Council Advanced Grants (AG) (2) 2167 projects submitted 997 PE (46%), 766 LS (35%), 404 SH (19%) 275 projects funded: 114 PE, 84 LS, 48 SH Six panels for SH instead of 5 SH1 - Individuals, institutions and markets: economics, finance and management : 79 proposals > 13 granted SH2 - Institutions, values and beliefs and behaviour: sociology, social anthropology, political science, law, communication, social studies of science and technology: 82 > 7 SH3 - Environment and society: environmental studies, demography, social geography, urban and regional studies: 19 > 2

European Research Council Advanced Grants (AG) (3) SH4 - The Human Mind and its complexity: cognition, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and education: 86 > 9 SH5 - Cultures and cultural production: literature, visual and performing arts, music, cultural and comparative studies: 40 > 5 SH6 - The study of the human past: archaeology, history and memory: 75 > 12

European Research Council Distribution of the 48 successful proposals (AG) By country of the host institution: 12 UK, 8 FR, 5 DE, 5 SP, 5 NL, 4 IT, 3 CH, 1 BE, 1 BG, 1 DK, 1 FI, 1 HU, 1 SE By nationality of the PI: 10 UK, 7 DE, 6 FR, 6 IT, 5 NL, 4 SP, 2 BE, 2 SE, 1 Australia, 1 BG, 1 DK, 1 EL, 1 IL, 1 USA By subdomain: 24 in humanities, 24 in social sciences By discipline: 7 History, 5 Linguistics, 4 Psycho-Neuro, 3 Philo, 3 Cultural Studies, 2 Archeo

European Research Council Interdisciplinary proposals 29 projects granted: 11 from PE, 11 from LS, 7 from SH 7 SH = 4 Humanities, 3 Social sciences 2 SH-6, 1 SH-1, 1 SH-2, 1 SH-3, 1 SH-4, 1 SH-5

European Research Council How are the proposals evaluated? Pure peer-review method Total confidence in the panels Panel members and panel chairs selected and appointed by the scientific council: long process 1 st stage: decision taken by the panel members alone 2 nd stage: external reviewers called upon (selected by panel chairs and members) External reviews thoroughly discussed by panel members before final decision made

European Research Council How are the proposals evaluated (2)? For the 1st stage of evaluation, only two criteria are used by the panel members to sort the proposals: 1. the track record of the PI and 2. the scientific excellence of the project.

European Research Council Track record of the candidate in the Humanities 10 most important publications in leading international peer-reviewed scientific journals for the last 10 years (Title, Journal, Year, Page numbers, number of citations, excluding auto-citations). For the citations, the candidate is free to use any database available. Up to 10 monographs published in the last 10 years (Title, Year, Publisher, ISBN, number of translations, number of reviews,).

European Research Council Track record of the candidate in the Humanities (2) Up to 10 invited lectures at peer-reviewed internationally established scientific conferences and/or Advanced Schools in the last 10 years (Title of contribution, Name of proceedings, Year, Number of citations) Up to 5 scientific research expeditions or fieldwork trips over the last 10 years (Destination, Year, Funding) Up to 5 memberships in Steering and/or Organising Committees for international conferences over the last 10 years (Title, Scientific association, Function, Place, Year) Up to 5 prizes, awards, memberships of scientific academies (Title, institution, year)

European Research Council Track record of the candidate in the Humanities (3) Provides a profile of the candidate who is not required to have the complete number of entries for each category.

European Research Council 2 nd stage of the evaluation: what are the external evaluators required to do? Three sections involved: 1.Evaluation of the PI (assessment of quality of research output/track record; assessment of intellectual capacity and creativity). Maximum grade of 4 2. Evaluation of research project (ground-breaking nature of research; potential impact; methodology; high-gain/high-risk balance). Maximum grade of 4 Note: there is a threshold of 2 for each category.

European Research Council 2 nd stage of the evaluation: what are the external evaluators required to do? (2) 3. Research environment No grade: Pass/Fail The contribution to the project of the research environment is evaluated.

European Research Council Merci Thank you ! 谢谢