The Future of Social Sciences Beyond Academia
October 9, 2025Around the world, universities are producing record numbers of doctoral graduates—over 60,000 PhDs each year in the United States alone, with similar figures across Europe. Yet academic opportunities remain scarce. In many disciplines, only a small fraction—sometimes as low as ten to twenty percent—will secure long-term university posts.
This imbalance forces us to rethink the purpose and trajectory of advanced social science training. If the majority of graduates will not remain in academia, then research must be reimagined in ways that connect more directly to the pressing challenges of our time. The future of social science, I believe, lies in its capacity to embed itself in practice—whether in humanitarian action, diplomacy, business, or the governance of emerging technologies.
This conviction took on a new depth during my time as a guest researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. What I encountered there was not a purely academic environment, but a community that actively bridged conceptual rigor with the practical concerns of those working on the frontlines of security and humanitarian policy. CSS does not treat theory and practice as separate worlds; it treats them as two sides of the same coin.
Working on digital risks in humanitarian action, in a project carried out together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), I saw scholarship on cybersecurity, digital governance, and technological change feed directly into operational strategies and policy debates. These were not abstract discussions. They brought together practitioners facing urgent, real-world dilemmas and researchers able to turn complex ideas into clear frameworks, practical advice, and usable tools. In this environment, the boundary between academic research and problem-solving was constantly shifting—and, more importantly, it became a productive space where both sides learned from each other.
What struck me most about CSS was its ability to function as a kind of living laboratory for applied social science. Researchers were not distant observers but active participants in ongoing conversations with policymakers, humanitarian professionals, and security experts. At CSS, this ethos was clear: researchers moved between conceptual debates about digital sovereignty and the practical challenges of helping organizations navigate cyber vulnerabilities or anticipate conflicts. This interplay showed that social scientists can move beyond the confines of academia, offering contributions that are not only analytically rigorous but also practically consequential.
Looking back, this experience offered me a glimpse of what the future of social science might look like. It is not a future in which theory is discarded, but one in which theory is constantly tested, challenged, and reshaped by the realities of the world. It is a future where social scientists speak meaningfully to humanitarian actors navigating new forms of conflict, to businesses grappling with digital transformation, and to governments confronting the complex intersections of climate, security, and governance.
For me, ETH Zurich’s Center for Security Studies embodied this vision. It showed that social science can be both rigorous and relevant, both analytical and applied. It also demonstrated that preparing the next generation of researchers means preparing them not only for academic careers, but for meaningful contributions across the many sectors where knowledge and practice must come together.
