SPIA UG

Their core work

SPIA UG is a small Berlin-based private research company contributing specialist social science and policy analysis to European research consortia. Their work covers two distinct domains: science education outreach and civic engagement on one side, and governance of religion, secularism, and radicalization on the other. In practice, they appear to function as a policy-oriented research partner bringing German and European civil society perspectives into multi-country comparative projects. With only two completed H2020 projects, their precise operational model — whether they are a consultancy, think tank spinout, or independent research unit — remains unclear from the available data.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (2015–2017), SPIA UG was focused on space science education: coordinating contests, public outreach, and hands-in-science programs for young people. By 2018, they had shifted entirely into social science territory — comparative research on secularism, state-religion relations, and the drivers of radicalization. This is a substantial thematic pivot, not an incremental development, which may reflect the company's core identity as a policy research entity that happened to join one education project early on.

Their trajectory points firmly toward comparative social policy research — specifically religion-state relations, diversity governance, and radicalization prevention — which aligns with ongoing EU security and cohesion funding priorities.

How they like to work

SPIA UG has participated exclusively as a consortium partner, never leading a project — consistent with a small specialist firm that joins larger research networks rather than managing them. Despite only two projects, they accumulated 22 unique partners across 16 countries, indicating they joined sizeable multi-partner consortia. This suggests they are experienced at working in large, internationally distributed research teams and fitting into existing collaborative structures.

SPIA UG has built a surprisingly broad network for a two-project organization — 22 partners across 16 countries, which reflects the large consortium structure of both GREASE and Odysseus II. Their geographic reach is genuinely European and extends into Asia (consistent with GREASE's European-Asian comparative scope).

What sets them apart

SPIA UG occupies an unusual niche as a private German SME doing policy-relevant social science research — a space more typically occupied by universities or think tanks. Their combination of science education outreach experience and social cohesion research may make them a useful bridge partner in projects that need both public engagement and policy analysis components. However, with only two completed projects and no coordinator experience, their institutional weight in consortium negotiations is limited.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GREASE
  A substantial four-year RIA project comparing religious governance and radicalization across Europe and Asia — the organization's most policy-relevant and thematically distinctive project.
• Odysseus II
  An EU-wide space education initiative engaging youth through national contests, showing SPIA UG's capacity for coordinating educational outreach at scale.