This section outlines the progress in measuring the scientific, economic and societal impact of SSH RIs, as well as the challenges in determining the diverse types of impact in the Social Sciences & Humanities domains. Several best practices and SSH impact case studies are provided. 

RIs represent an increasingly large share of research investment, and both national and European funders are expected to develop systematic and transparent procedures underlying their investment choices. Consequently, there’s a growing consensus regarding the importance of assessing the value of RIs beyond research itself and for society at large. This should not be difficult for SSH RIs given that they are the most proper candidates among RIs to have an effect on the wellbeing and future of society.

Indeed, there are outstanding examples of SSH RIs undertaking ground-breaking work in analysing their scientific, economic and societal impact. ESS ERIC stands out among RIs in all domains regarding study, analysis, and reflection of the various categories of impact of RIs and use of assessment methodologies. Soon after becoming an ERIC in 2013, ESS has started with impact studies, tracking its academic and non-academic impact. A recent impact case study noted a set of common general types of non-academic ESS impacts, including general intelligence and insights for NGOs or government ministries, agencies, or advisory bodies. Such impact drives agenda setting, where ESS data highlights a particular problem or challenge, triggering various types of policy action. ESS data or ESS-based findings can also influence public debate when presented in the news media. Using ESS data as indicators enables the tracking of certain aspects of societal progress, for instance aiding in the assessment of policy effectiveness according to desired outcomes. This includes instances where ESS methodology or questions have been integrated into other surveys run for such monitoring processes. In addition, in 2022, ESS has contracted a study to map ESS topics to European Commission policy priorities. This will help to identify future opportunities for ESS data to be more visible at the European Commission level. 

At the same time, several studies, policy papers and statements note that assessing impact of RIs beyond the scientific impact is challenging and that a unified framework for impact assessment of investment in RIs is questionable. This was underlined again recently, by OECD in 2019 and by ESFRI in 2023.

In a recent policy paper, the OECD noted that assessing the impact of RIs remains a challenging endeavour. “Reference framework for assessing the scientific and socio-economic impact of research infrastructures”, OECD (March 2019)
https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/reference-framework-for-assessing-the-scientific-and-socio-economic-impact-of-research-infrastructures_3ffee43b-en#page1  The main reasons lie in the fact that, although RIs deliver quality services that facilitate excellent science, outcomes are indirect and not produced by the RIs themselves but rather by its users. In many cases, RIs do not know the users, given also that the data are freely obtainable for non-commercial purposes.

These findings have also been supported by a recent Policy Brief (June 2023) by ESFRI, Assessment of Impact of RIs, “Assessment of Impact of RIs”, ESFRI (June 2023)
https://www.esfri.eu/latest-esfri-news/esfri-publishes-policy-brief-impact which underlines that impact measurement of RIs is feasible and necessary but should be undergone with a relative amount of caution. The report emphasises the importance of scientific impact while recognising the socio-economic impacts of RIs. Quality over quantity of impact assessment should be the guiding principle. Soft evidence such as impact cases and anecdotal evidence as opposed to hard evidence is the recommended way forward for showcasing impact.

Most of these findings and frameworks address all RI domains and do not concentrate on Social Sciences & Humanities specifically. The specificity of SSH Research Infrastructures stems from their influence on the vision of decision makers and social actors. 

SSH RIs have all individually started to monitor and assess their scientific, societal and economic impact with the KPIs developed centrally by ESFRI. However, for this to remain a scientifically grounded and recognised assessment, more depth and time will need to be invested at all levels. The individual uniqueness of RIs also means that their impact can have many different forms.

As regards scientific impact, SSH RIs score high because they have revolutionised the way in which SSH research in Europe is conducted, as explained above. A push to more data-intensive SSH research has brought about a shift in European SSH research, slowly moving it away from nationally focused and context-dependent approaches. Not only has this shift made SSH research more international (through the availability of cross-country data), but it has also encouraged a fruitful exchange and further development of research methods. 

In terms of societal impact, Humanities RIs contribute significantly to cultural impact: digitalisation of cultural artefacts (e.g., archival records, books, newspapers, manuscripts, museum collections) makes them more accessible and appreciated, boosting community integration and identity. Benefits for society include contributions to art, movies, and books that may ultimately lead to more societal awareness about the benefits of science. Other examples for societal impacts include providing open access publications, data and software for societal use and contributing to social inclusion, for example by hiring people from under-represented groups or by adopting practices promoting gender equality. There are also broader societal impacts on national research systems in the European Research Area (ERA): European RIs are a cornerstone of the ERA and impact directly on national governance in its structuring of the national research and funding systems.

Moreover, several of the SSH RIs contribute fundamental facts about the current state of European societies and policies, which is particularly important in order to fight disinformation and organised campaigns aimed to undermine public trust and legitimacy threatening European democracies.

Assessing economic impacts is more difficult, as they are solely indirect: they are to be seen as a long-term outcome of policies adopted on the basis of information and insight provided by data generated at the level of SSH RIs. 

For example, in 2020, DARIAH ERIC launched an initiative of producing impact case studies to showcase the depth and richness of the impact achieved over the year into research communities, national consortia, and the practices and knowledge base of individual researchers in the area of (Digital) Arts and Humanities. This collection of case studies is enriched annually.  The DARIAH Impact Case Studies are inspired by the UK’s Research Excellence Framework UK’s Research Excellence Framework
https://www.ref.ac.uk/about-the-ref/what-is-the-ref/ which included more narrative and qualitative Impact assessment approaches, more suited to the Humanities & Social Sciences. Furthermore, some RIs have a truly global reach: SHARE ERIC does not only cover all EU Member States in a harmonised way, but is also embedded in a network of sister studies all over the world, from the Americas to Eastern Asia. This has to do with the comparability of its data with other international ageing surveys such as HRS in USand ELSA in UK. Such comparability has allowed for a worldwide understanding of how health care policies have coped with the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting important lessons for the future. In the same vein, during the COVID-19 pandemic, ESFRI showcased many stories on its website where SSH RIs directly contributed to addressing the crisis. ESFRI RIs against COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.esfri.eu/covid-19

In summary, it can be noted that societal and economic impacts can be assessed, in addition to scientific impacts. However, especially in the SSH domain, societal and economic impacts are indirect, very long-term and dispersed due to the large variety of user groups.