Abstract Anita Välikangas’s analysis of a broad selection of interdisciplinary funding programs shows that the Social Sciences and Humanities’ (SSH) relegation to subordinate “add-on” roles with limited opportunities for epistemically oriented research in interdisciplinary projects, is already prefigured by funding structures. Beyond holding significant implications for research policy, this finding necessitates a critical reflection on the positionality of the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) within STEM-dominated interdisciplinary collaborations.