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A social sciences "trade union" is needed to press the disciplines' case for more European research and development cash, a report says this week, writes Alison Utley.

The social sciences are key to understanding and coping with the challenges facing Europe, but they get a tiny proportion of resources available from the European Union to support research and development, says the report presented to the Economic and Social Research Council.

The report, by researchers from Manchester 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's Institute for Alternative Futures, says that the ESRC should consider a "European trade union" for social sciences to push for a greater share of resources for research and development to be allocated in the EU's Seventh Framework Programme in 2010.

"Social sciences need a stronger profile in terms of both quantity and nature of resources, and of the influence exerted by their outcomes," the report says.