Written by: Ann-Catrin Fender, UHOH / KomBioTa

ᴇNᴀBʟS shares lessons on SSH – STEM collaboration for the 2027 NATURE call

On 1^st October 2026, KomBioTa presented ᴇNᴀBʟS at the VernetzBar matchmaking event on the upcoming NATURE call. It was organised by Germany’s National Contact Point for Horizon Europe. The online event brought together researchers interested in developing proposals for topics aimed at fostering “Transformative Change Towards a Nature-Positive Economy and Society.”

The ᴇNᴀBʟS team presented the project as an example of transdisciplinary collaboration between Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In ᴇNᴀBʟS, SSH expertise informs the analysis of societal impact, awareness, communication and the conditions needed to put solutions into practice. It also contributes to policy recommendations and the development and implementation of concepts such as the Whole Institution Approach (WIA). STEM and SSH partners jointly develop teaching materials and content on biodiversity and NBS.

The presentation highlighted the value of combining scientific evidence with an understanding of social contexts: this can lead to more relevant research questions, stronger stakeholder involvement and results with practical application. It also addressed common challenges, including building a shared language, working across different methods and timelines, and connecting international collaboration with local contexts. The recommendations included among others: allowing time for teams to develop shared understandings by including specific work packages and project structure, already clarifying complementary expertise and planning communication and team building in an interdisciplinary setting. KomBioTa also stressed that SSH should be integrated throughout the project and across work packages, rather than confined to specific tasks.