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About

Who we are

Our mission is to foster innovation, share expertise, and drive meaningful impact.

Innovation Through Insight

SSH-Experts consists of an interdisciplinary coalition of researchers and analysts with extensive experience in contributing to and leading research within EU Programmes. Covering various areas of social sciences and humanities, our experts are united by their motivation to strengthen research endeavours in their efforts to enhance public engagement, become more inclusive, boost science education as well as open science initiatives, found on fundamental ethical guidelines and provide governance instruments to foster responsible research.

With their diverse backgrounds in applied economics, business administration, political science and international relations, sociology and social anthropology, psychology, media and communication science, applied linguistics and literature SSH-Experts provides meaningful advice and productive contribution to significantly elevate project applications to higher levels of competitiveness and implement responsible research and innovation.

Focusing on research, development and technology, the contributions of SSH expertise are significantly relevant in all areas including project conceptualisation, engineering and software development, innovation, research communication, dissemination and exploitation. Within all European research programmes, these areas extend beyond calls and missions specifically addressing society, culture or citizen participation, but are flagged in numerous topics spread over every cluster, pillar and programme of EU funded research. Our experts are well equipped with profound project experience to support any research and development action, striving to enhance and implement excellent innovations.

Employing a combined record of over 100 European and nationally funded research projects, SSH-Experts offers experience-based guidance and expertise to advance and implement your project within Horizon Europe, ERASMUS+, CERV, ISF, DIGITAL or related programmes.

the team

About us

Neda Deneva

Neda Deneva holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology (CEU, Budapest). Her research explores transnational migration, labour regimes, citizenship, and social reproduction in Eastern Europe through gender- and race-sensitive lenses. She has extensive experience with qualitative, participatory, and collaborative methods, policy analysis, evaluation, and managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects. She has conducted research in Bulgarian, Romanian, German, and English.

Areas of expertise:

  • Ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviewing
  • Participatory and visual research methods
  • Policy analysis and comparative case studies
  • Intersectional and decolonial approaches
  • Monitoring and evaluation in multi-stakeholder projects

Relevant projects:

  • COVINFORM: COronavirus Vulnerabilities and INFOrmation dynamics – Horizon 2020
  • ReIncluGen: Rethinking Inclusion and Gender Empowerment – Horizon Europe
  • MigraCare: Migration and Care in Old Age – Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft
  • Embodied Perceptions: Visual and embodied methodologies with migrant women – FFG (FemTech)
  • Green Esteem: Green Esteem – Horizon Europe (upcoming in October 2025)
  • Precarious labor and peripheral housing. The socio-economic practices of Romanian Roma in the context of changing industrial relations and uneven territorial development – EEA and Norway Grants Collaborative Research Programme
  • Pilot Testing of the EU Child Guarantee in Bulgaria, Phase III of the Preparatory Action – UNICEF

Gisela Hagmair

Gisela Hagmair holds a Master in Applied Linguistics (with a focus on language policies, socio-linguistics and text analysis) and Scandinavian Languages and Literature (with a specific focus on Norwegian). Additionally, she has research and project experience in the fields of public health, cultural heritage, mental health and migration. She is also a trained project manager and has experience in project communication and dissemination.

Areas of expertise:

  • Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping
  • Study Design and Conceptualisation
  • Descriptive Policy Analysis
  • Policy Recommendations
  • Project Dissemination and Science Communication
  • Project Management and Ethics

Relevant projects:

  • RISE UP: Revitalising Languages and Safeguarding Cultural Diversity – HORIZON
  • TRACES: Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts: From Intervention to Co-Production – Horizon 2020
  • ODIN: Leveraging AI based technology to transform the future of the health care delivery in leading hospitals in Europa – Horizon 2020
  • PHARAON: Pilots for Healthy and Active Ageing – Horizon 2020

Violeta Heinze

Violeta Heinze holds a Bachelor’s degree in Media and Communication Science from the University of Vienna, and is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Science and Technology Studies. Her research fields include media studies, citizen engagement, innovation studies, knowledge cultures, and language and communication studies. She has led the Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation activities in several projects and is experienced in stakeholder engagement, content creation and event management.

Areas of expertise:

  • Applied Methods of Qualitative & Quantitative Empirical Research
  • Media Analysis
  • Science Communication
  • Citizen Engagement (e.g., citizen science methods)
  • Technoscience & Innovation Studies

Relevant projects:

  • RISE UP: Revitalising Languages and Safeguarding Cultural Diversity – HORIZON
  • MyHealth@MyHands: Person-centred health management through access to their health data using EUDI Wallet services – DIGITAL
  • SPREAD2INNO: SPREADing the global potential of developing innovation ecosystems to strengthen INNOvation in regional and local businesses – HORIZON
  • BIOMATDB: Advanced Database for Biomaterials with Data Analysis and Visualisation Tools extended by a Marketplace with Digital Advisors – HORIZON

Olivia Kafka

Olivia Kafka is finalizing her Master's studies in Spatial Planning at TU Vienna, building on Bachelor's degrees in Spatial Planning and Economics. Her research lies at the intersection of Ecological Economics and Urban Planning, with a particular emphasis on post-growth approaches, urban ecology, and nature-based solutions in Austria and Turkey. She brings strong expertise in qualitative data collection and analysis, along with a keen interest in participatory research and co-creation formats.

Areas of expertise:

  • Applied Methods of Qualitative Empirical Research
  • Participatory Actors and Systems Mapping
  • Spatial Analysis and Statistics with ArcGIS and QGIS
  • Quantitative Data Analysis with R and SPSS
  • Project Dissemination and Science Communication

Relevant projects:

  • BioBeo: Innovative Education for the Bioeconomy – HORIZON
  • CircularCityChallenge: Creating a Next Generation Participatory Contest for Young People to integrate Circularity in School Curricula – UrbanEurope
  • OpenMusE: An Open, Scalable Data-to-Policy Pipeline for European Music Ecosystems – HORIZON
  • CATCHER: Creation of Innovative “Humidity to Electricity” Renewable Energy Conversion Technology – HORIZON
  • OneAquaHealth: Protecting Urban Aquatic Ecosystems to Promote One Health – HORIZON
  • Green Esteem: Green Esteem – Horizon Europe (upcoming in October 2025)

Leyla Kamyabi

Holding a Master of Science in Applied Economics from the University of Vienna, Leyla Kamyabi’s fields of research include institutional and social economics, sociology, quantitative research and statistical analysis. Aside from her academic background, Leyla has in-depth project experience in the areas of pre-commercial procurement, end-user engagement, impact assessment, scientific communication, as well as sustainable exploitation.

Areas of expertise:

  • Applied Methods of Quantitative Empirical Research
  • Stakeholder Mappings & Needs Assessments
  • Taxonomies
  • User Experience Testing & User Behaviour
  • Impact Assessments

Relevant projects:

  • iProcureSecurity PCP: Pre-Commercial Procurement of Innovative Triage Management Systems Strengthening Resilience and Interoperability of Emergency Medical Services – H2020
  • UNCOVER: Development of an Efficient Steganalysis Framework for Uncovering Hidden Data in Digital Media – H2020
  • ALLIES: AI-based Framework for Supporting Micro (and Small) HSPs on the Report and Removal of Online Terrorist Content – ISF
  • METEOR: Methodologies for Teamworking in Eco-Outwards Research – HORIZON
  • FU-TOURISM: FU-TOURISM 5.0 – Future-Ready Business Support Ecosystem for Tourism SME Transition to Green – COSME
  • CATCHER: Creation of innovative “humidity to electricity” renewable energy conversion technology towards sustainable energy challenge – HORIZON EIC

Marie-Therese Sauer

Marie Sauer is about to conclude her studies in Cognitive Science and holds a BA in English & American Studies (University of Vienna). Her fields of study include productivity, psychosomatic illnesses, digital humanism, modelling, and inclusive AI, as well as political storytelling, minoritised languages, critical literature analyses, cultural theories, (adult) education, and linguistics. She has extensive project management and DEC experience, esp. with cultural and creative industries (CCIs).

Areas of expertise:

  • Systematic Literature Reviews & Desk Research
  • Stakeholder Mapping
  • Ecosystem Enlargement
  • Dissemination, Exploitation, Communication (DEC)
  • Cultural Heritage; Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs); Creative Writing; Education

Relevant projects:

  • RISE UP: Revitalising languages, safeguarding cultural diversity – HORIZON
  • TourXpeRience: Nurturing Entrepreneurial Teaching and Learning for VET Excellence in Tourism Education – ERASMUS+

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