Network analysis of civil society organisations' participation in the EU framework programmes

This study examines the participation of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in the EU research framework programmes (FP) through literature reviews, a series of case studies, social network analyses and agent-based modelling. It revealed that CSOs have played a marginal role in FP6 and FP7, and had very limited effects on network performance and research output. This can be explained by different logics: up to now, the FPs have been mainly shaped by researchers, focusing on scientific excellence, and the business sector, focusing on profits and competitiveness, when CSOs follow a different logic, focusing on societal impacts. Therefore, in addition to involving CSOs as partners, future FPs could optimise the use of CSOs potential by (1) involving them more significantly in other roles (e.g. agenda setting, proposal evaluation), (2) putting stronger emphasis on the societal impacts of the whole programme, and (3) funding more and smaller projects to counter concentration effects and reduce entry barriers. Our simulation showed that such a scenario would substantially increase the FPs contributions to high level policy objectives (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals), enhance the respective competencies of different types of organisations (universities, businesses and CSOs) and bring science and citizens closer without diluting scientific excellence.