policy
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Margreet de Looze on adolescent health and risk behaviours
Margreet de Looze is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science at Utrecht University. Her research examines how social and cultural contexts shape young people’s health and well-being, with a particular focus on adolescent substance use, mental health, and sexual health. Over the past 17 years, her interdisciplinary and cross-national research has documented how adolescent ...
Beyond technology: How social sciences and humanities drive human-centric innovation
As the European Union (EU) prepares the groundwork for the next Horizon Europe Framework Programme, many experts have been calling for the human and social dimension of progress to be better integrated into the EU’s research and innovation agenda. The STOA workshop ‘Humanities and social sciences at the heart of Europe’s future’, organised on 3 ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Gabi Lombardo on the importance of social sciences and humanities
“Social sciences and humanities unveil weaknesses of our societies and allow us to address them” Dr Gabi Lombardo is the Director of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH), an advocacy and science policy organisation for social sciences and humanities (SSH) in Europe. She is an expert in both higher education and global ...
STOA’s annual lecture: Academic Freedom in the US
In the past year, tensions between the US administration and many major American universities – apparently revolving around « Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) » policies and the handling of student and faculty protests - have reached a critical point. From legislative restrictions on teaching and frozen grants to political pressure on university governance, academic ...
Dr Vanessa Harris on planetary health research: exploring the links between the health of humans and the health of ecosystems
Dr Vanessa Harris is an infectious diseases physician and Assistant Professor at the Department of Global Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam (UvA). Her research focuses on diarrheal diseases in children under the age of five, investigating environmental impacts on disease risk, prevention and vaccine performance in high-risk settings, and indirect effects of having diarrheal ...
The future of water availability and use in the EU: A STOA foresight study
Water is essential for life, food production, energy supply, and economic activity. Yet Europe increasingly faces a water crisis, with droughts and floods compromising both water quality and quantity across the continent. Climate change is already affecting water availability, and the situation is expected to worsen. Many EU regions face a growing mismatch between water ...
Pairing scheme: Bridging science and policy
From climate change to public health crises, the challenges facing Europe today demand decisions grounded in solid scientific evidence. Yet bridging the gap between research and policy-making remains a persistent challenge. For nearly a decade, the European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) has been tackling this through an innovative pairing ...
Can e-fuels power Europe’s low carbon future?
In the spirit of technological neutrality, Europe is exploring multiple pathways to decarbonisation. Among them are e-fuels, whose chemical composition is identical to that of fossil fuels but are produced through synthetic processes rather than extracted and refined. This makes them a potential low-carbon alternative – provided that key sustainability criteria are met and critical ...