Entering the field’s domesticity: Scientific reflexivity and advocacy for SSH interests in Horizon Europe

In this interview, Didier Georgakakis reflects with Marylou Hamm on his career as an advocate for the interests of political science, and later the social sciences and humanities, within the European institutions. The conversation revisits a decade-long trajectory that culminated in the creation of Cluster 2 dedicated to the social sciences and humanities, and the tripling of its budget during the Horizon Europe 2021 negotiations. Situated at the intersection of ethnographic testimony and reflexive anthropology, this exchange offers new insights into the making of European research policy in SHS. It examines the conditions under which scientific knowledge can be mobilised for political action or practice, while also considering the reflexive implications of this “investment in the domesticity of the field” for the theoretical development of the European institutional field.