Mapping of Research in the European Social Sciences and Humanities

(MORESS)

Duration: 04/2003 - 06/2005

Sponsors: European Union, 5th Framework programme

Project collaborators: Ulrike Felt; Maximilian Fochler; Astrid Mager; Annina Müller

Abstract

The objectives not only of the European Higher Education and Research Areas but also of overarching European development can only be fulfilled with a full contribution from research in social sciences and humanities. Yet currently European-level research is under-developed, and research teams are limited by rather haphazard academic networking. Lack of systematic and comparable information poses major challenges.

The MORESS project has the primary objective of improving access to information on research in social sciences and humanities. Through bringing together multiple sources of information in Europe into an integrated structure, MORESS aims to provide useful tools for interested researchers, and to enhance the future quality of European research.

Involving partners from 25 European countries, MORESS has two principal aims:

  1. To promote better cooperation and networking among the social science research community, in the interest of developing a European knowledge-based economy and society;
  2. To assist EU-accession countries in the development of social science research as a key instrument in the process of democratic transition and European integration.


The project focuses on the construction of a web-based cataloguing system whose purpose is to support collection, storage and linking of information about existing social science and humanities research databases.
Additionally, the project aims to develop a concept of "thematic mapping", with the objective of developing the utility of the catalogued data to respond to issues of importance for European public policies.

Project partners

Germany: Social Science Information Centre, Bonn
Belgium: Université Libre de Bruxelles
Bulgaria: National Accreditation and Evaluation Agency, Bulgaria
Czech Rep: Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Denmark: The Danish Center for Studies in Research and Research Policy
Estonia: Estonian Data Archives
Finland: University of Tampere
France: Université Lumière Lyon 2
Greece: University of Athens
Hungary: Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Ireland: Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Italy: University of Milan Bicocca
Latvia: University of Latvia
Lithuania: Vilnius University
Netherlands: Netherlands Institute for Scientific Information Services
Norway: Norwegian Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education
Poland: Centre for Social Studies/Central European University
Portugal: Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Romania: National School of Political Studies and Public Administration
Slovakia: Univerzita Komenského
Slovenia: University of Ljubljana
Spain: University of Barcelona
Sweden: Göteborg University-Swedish Social Science Data Archives
United Kingdom: University of Leeds