METRIS stands for Monitoring European trends in social sciences and humanities. The aim of METRIS is to support the European Research Area (ERA) in the social sciences and the humanities domains (SSH). This is particularly important for these sciences, because such knowledge is embedded into national systems, and the ERA brings about novel insights and perspectives that result from comparing national systems and situations as well as rising above such comparisons. European level research in SSH forms an important support for European policy-making. This first report from a METRIS expert group identifies important new and emerging trends in social sciences and humanities.