Brussels, January 13, 2026. The ambitious SCIANCE project has officially launched its activities with a kickoff meeting in Brussels, marking an important milestone in coordinating and advancing Artificial Intelligence for Science (AI in Science) across Europe. Within this initiative, SoBigData RI acts as the Scientific Coordinator for the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) community, ensuring that SSH perspectives are fully integrated into Europe’s evolving AI in Science landscape.

A Bottom-Up, Community-Driven Vision

SCIANCE adopts a bottom-up approach that places researchers and research communities at the centre of decision-making. Key activities include:

• Mapping current AI use and emerging needs across scientific domains
• Co-creating a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for AI in Science
• Developing an implementation roadmap for infrastructure upgrades aligned with scientific needs
• Piloting the RAISE Secretariat for AI in Science, designed to support long-term coordination across European research communities

SCIANCE is implemented by a multidisciplinary consortium of thirteen leading European organisations and research infrastructures, including the ESF, EGI Foundation, OpenAIRE AMKE, CNR, Euro-BioImaging ERIC, EMBL, CU, MU, UT-ITC, Nikhef, DFKI, SZTAKI, and BDVA. This diversity ensures strong coverage of scientific domains, open science practices, and advanced digital infrastructures.

SoBigData RI contributes to these activities by coordinating SSH input, consolidating community feedback, and translating SSH requirements into actionable recommendations for AI and infrastructure development.

SoBigData RI as Scientific Coordinator for SSH

As the Scientific Coordinator for the SSH community within SCIANCE, SoBigData RI plays a central role in representing the needs, priorities, and methodological specificities of social sciences and humanities research. This includes fostering dialogue between SSH researchers, AI experts, and infrastructure providers, and ensuring that AI development for science reflects the complexity, diversity, and societal relevance of SSH research.

Through this coordination role, SoBigData RI contributes to aligning AI technologies with SSH research practices, supporting the responsible use of data-driven methods, and promoting approaches that are transparent, explainable, and ethically grounded.

Why SCIANCE Matters for the SSH Community

The Social Sciences and Humanities stand to benefit significantly from a coordinated European approach to AI in science. SCIANCE aims to identify research and innovation priorities, facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration, and support the integration of AI methods tailored to real scientific challenges, including those emerging from computational social science and digital humanities.

By acting as Scientific Coordinator, SoBigData RI ensures that SSH researchers actively shape these priorities, rather than being passive recipients of technological solutions developed elsewhere. This role strengthens the visibility of SSH within the broader AI in Science ecosystem and reinforces its contribution to evidence-based policymaking and societal impact.

What is RAISE and why is it important?

A central element of the SCIANCE vision is RAISE (Resource for AI Science in Europe), a virtual institute proposed within the European Strategy for AI in Science. RAISE is intended to federate computing, interoperable data, expertise, and funding opportunities to support AI-enabled research across disciplines.

For the SSH community, RAISE represents an opportunity to access AI-ready infrastructures connected to research infrastructures and data spaces, and to co-develop AI methods that are socially informed, transparent, and aligned with SSH research ethics. SoBigData RI’s coordination role helps ensure that SSH requirements are embedded in the design and governance of RAISE from the outset.

What’s Next for SSH Researchers

In the coming months, SCIANCE will engage researchers through consultations, expert workshops, and targeted studies to inform the SRIA and the infrastructure roadmap. The establishment of the RAISE Secretariat will further support coordination, capacity building, and alignment with European AI and research policies.

For SSH researchers, SoBigData RI’s role as Scientific Coordinator provides a clear entry point to engage with SCIANCE and to contribute directly to shaping how AI supports social science and humanities research in Europe. SoBigData RI invites SSH researchers and communities to follow SCIANCE developments and participate in upcoming activities. Active engagement will be essential to ensure that Europe’s AI in Science ecosystem reflects the full diversity of scientific approaches and societal needs.

Additional info will be published soon at: https://www.egi.eu/project/sciance/