ISER’s expertise in survey methodology is world-leading and we are involved in a number of prestigious international collaborations.
Led by Professor Peter Lynn, the Cross-National Surveys Unit at ISER works alongside institutions around the world on designing robust survey methodology and advising governments on survey design and data collection methods.
Other staff in the Cross-National Surveys Unit include Dr Cara Booker, Dr Olena Kaminska, Dr Carla Xena, Karolina Kudzia and admin support from Janice Webb.
Current projects
European Social Survey
The European Social Survey is a pan-European research infrastructure, funded by national governments at a cost of €5.5million annually.
The European Social Survey provides high-quality open access data measuring public attitudes, beliefs and behaviour in 30+ countries, since 2001. It was awarded European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) status in 2013.
We are part of the core scientific team, alongside City St George’s, University of London, the University of Pompeu Fabra, and the University of Ljubljana, GESIS, Sikt, CenterData, and SCP. A key aim of the ESS has always been to implement high quality standards in its methodology and to improve standards in the field of cross-national surveys more generally.
CO ORDINATE
The Cohort Community Research and Development Infrastructure Network for Access Throughout Europe (COORDINATE) is building a community of research and organisation to develop coordinated comparative longitudinal survey-based research on the wellbeing of children and young people growing up in Europe. It includes preparing for the launch of Growing in Digital Europe (GUIDE) which will be Europe’s first cross-national birth cohort study. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon2020 InfralA (integrating activities for research infrastructures) at a cost of €5million. COORDINATE is a consortium of 19 institutions in 14 countries.
SUSTAIN-2
SUSTAIN-2 is Next Steps in Securing the Sustainability of the European Social Survey. The project aims to ensure the sustainability of one of Europe’s leading social science research infrastructures, the European Social Survey.
It will do this through a programme of activities designed to ensure the ESS continues to have good national coverage and keeps up-to-date with the changing scientific and research infrastructure landscape.
These activities include developing links with the European Values Survey, establishing global partners, engaging with policy makers, harnessing technology to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness and launching the world’s first cross-national probability-based online panel.
ISER is leading on sample design and weighting for the online panel. SUSTAIN-2 receives funding of €5.2million from the European Union Horizon2020 Infradev (development of infrastructure) and involves 17 institutions in 14 countries.
Infra4NextGen
Infra4NextGen is the Research Infrastructure Services To Support Next Generation EU and aims to support the aims of the ‘Next Generation EU’ and inform European Union youth policy by harnessing outputs from key social science research infrastructures to produce the following:
- Searchable inventory of variables
- Analytical summaries
- Harmonised data extracts
- New survey data
- Educational tools
- Deliberative forums with young people
The project receives of €9.8million of funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 Infraserv (Infrastructure services) fund and involves 25 institutions from across 16 countries.
ICOS-Cities
This is Pilot Application in Urban Landscapes: Towards integrated city observatories for greenhouse gases. ICOS Cities brings together European citizens, policy makers and top scientists in co-designing pioneer greenhouse gas measurement methodologies and services for cities to support climate action.
ICOS Cities aims to support the European Green Deal by creating city observatories involving infrastructure to observe and verify emissions from densely populated urban areas along with social survey data. This includes social surveys in Paris and Munich. The project receives €13million of funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 IA (Innovative Action) fund and involves 31 institutions from across 17 countries.
SOGREEN
The green transition is essential for tackling climate change, but it also brings social challenges. Different generations and socio-economic groups will experience its impacts in unique ways. These differences can make it harder to create fair policies and solutions. Understanding these social aspects is crucial for a successful and inclusive transition. The SoGreen project will develop new tools and data to study the social impacts of the green transition from a life course perspective. It will create a Green Transition Questionnaire and geospatial data to support better analysis. SoGreen will help ensure that policies are inclusive and informed by a deep understanding of social challenges. The project receives €5million of funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 IA (Innovative Action) fund and involves 31 institutions from across 23 countries.
UNSC-WG
United Nations Statistical Commission Working Group on Guidance for Surveys of Households and Individuals will provide guidance on the conduct of social surveys (handbook and web resources). The United Nations Statistics Division, under the guidance of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys (ISWGHS), launched the revision of the UN Handbooks on household surveys. The new handbook is expected to be out by December 2026. The working group includes survey managers and methodologists from National Statistical Offices, academia – including ISER – and the private sector.