Infra4NextGen

The cooperation between survey programmes in Europe aimed to improve synergies to develop infrastructures for research services roots has been intensified in the last decade thanks to several EU Commission funded projects led by the European Social Survey (ESS). Initiated with the SERISS project (2016-2019), the cooperation between the European Values Study and the ESS further developed in the context of the SUSTAIN II project (2020-2024).

The recently funded project Infra4NextGen – a four-year project set to begin on 1 March 2024 – will re-purpose and customise existing research services to support the five themes of the NextGenerationEU programme. The project will be co-ordinated by the European Social Survey European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC) and includes CESSDA ERIC, the European Values Study (EVS) and the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) at its core. NextGenerationEU aims for Europe ‘to build a greener, more digital and more resilient future’ with a focus on five key areas: Make it Green; Make it Digital; Make it Healthy; Make it Strong; and Make it Equal. In each of the five areas, partners will initially produce an inventory of relevant items already fielded on cross-national surveys, including Eurobarometer, European Quality of Life Survey, the European Social Survey (ESS), GGP, the EVS, and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP).

The inventory will be compiled by City St. George’s, University of London (ESS ERIC); the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), for the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS); and University of Milan (on behalf of the European Values Study). Harmonised and merged extracts from existing datasets that reduce the burden on analysts and increase sample sizes will be produced by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (representing CESSDA ERIC). Existing data from these surveys will then by analysed and summarised to produce a series of policy-relevant tabulations and visualisations with commentary presented in a dedicated online portal. This initial analysis will be supplemented with new data collected on each topic later in the project via the online CRONOS web panel fielded over five waves in 11 countries (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Post-collection weighting of the panel data will be undertaken by Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex (representing ESS ERIC).

New data on each NextGenEU theme will be collected and made rapidly available through the established CROss-National Online Survey (CRONOS) Panel. This panel will be administered by Centerdata. Sikt – Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (representing ESS ERIC) will ensure that the CRONOS data is processed and easily accessible by the research community through a dedicated Data Portal with all data organised by NextGenerationEU theme. Data collection via the CRONOS 3 panel will be conducted by beneficiaries in 11 countries: Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna, IHS; Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, ICS-UL; Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences; KU Leuven; National Centre for Social Research; Sciences Po; Social Science Research Center, HUN-REN TK; Umeå University; University of Ljubljana; University of Iceland; and University of Turku.

The work on compiling existing and collecting new data will also be undertaken by Cardiff University (Make it Green); Bielefeld University (Make it Digital); NTNU: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Make it Healthy); Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Make it Strong); and TÁRKI Social Research Institute and University of Exeter (Make it Equal).

King’s College London (UK) will use evidence from the partners working on each area to plan and schedule deliberative workshops with young people (aged 18-34) in four countries. Following the successful experience of EVALUE, an educational tool (E-NextGen) allowing data to be used in classrooms and by the general public will be implemented by European Association of Geographers EUROGEO; and Tilburg University representing the European Values Study. The tool will include interactive maps, infographics, blog posts, short research notes and the ability for users to position themselves on the five themes.

Comprehensive training materials related to all project outputs and NextGenerationEU areas will be generated by CESSDA ERIC; City, University of London (ESS ERIC); GESIS (CESSDA ERIC), KNAW; ADP – Slovenian Social Science Data Archives at the University of Ljubljana (CESSDA ERIC); University of Milan; AUSSDA – The Austrian Social Science Data Archive with contributions from University of Vienna (CESSDA ERIC) and University of Innsbruck (CESSDA ERIC). This will include online training, a series of 17 webinars, nine workshops, and a short video series with demonstrations, tutorials/guides and research discussions – See the linked recordings below!

Affiliations

There are six affiliated entities (AE) involved in the project for ESS ERIC and CESSDA ERIC: City, University of London (UK); GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (Germany); University of Essex (UK); University of Innsbruck (Austria); University of Ljubljana (Slovenia); and University of Vienna (Austria).

Additionally, a further 24 beneficiaries are taking part in the project: Bielefeld University (Germany); Cardiff University (UK); Centerdata (Netherlands); CESSDA ERIC (Norway); European Association of Geographers, EUROGEO (Belgium); Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna, IHS (Austria); Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria); Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, ICS-UL (Portugal); Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Czechia); King’s College London (UK); KU Leuven (Belgium); National Centre for Social Research (UK); NTNU: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway); Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, KNAW (Netherlands); Sciences Po (France); Sikt – Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Norway); Social Science Research Center, HUN-REN TK (Hungary); TÁRKI Social Research Institute (Hungary); Tilburg University (Netherlands); Umeå University (Sweden); University of Exeter (UK); University of Iceland (Iceland); University of Milan (Italy); and University of Turku (Finland).

Webinars

A series of webinars – and presentations delivered during workshops – have been held as part of the Infra4NextGen project. Recordings of all the presentations are embedded in the training section on the project website, with the following recordings now available:

Data-driven insights for EU youth policy: Make it Strong! – Julia Geistberger (AUSSDA | Vienna University Library). This webinar explored how social science data from Infra4NextGen can be used to inform policy relevant to the NextGenerationEU programme. Examples were provided by winners of the third project ‘Datathon’.
How surveys can support EU policy – Béatrice d’Hombres (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC). Delivered as part of Make it Digital workshop in May 2026, this webinar focused on research that included analysis of survey data to support EU policy on loneliness and social media.
Digitalisation in Europe: Research insights and key challenges – Lasse Marz (Bielefeld University). A presentation featuring an overview of research on the digital divide, digital skills, AI, social media, and the consequences for wellbeing and social inclusion, delivered as part of Make it Digital workshop.
The role of JRC for supporting policies to prevent non-communicable diseases – Celia Burgaz and Francisco Rodrigez Rasero (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC). Delivered during our Make it Healthy workshop in May 2026, policy makers discussed their role in supporting public health across Europe.
Exploring health inequalities in Europe – Terje Eikemo and Insa Backhaus (CHAIN – Centre for Health Equity Analytics). This presentation focused on how broader social and economic factors – such as working conditions, access to healthcare, and material living standards – shape health outcomes across the life course.
How surveys can support EU policy on social inclusion and equality – Begoña Cabeza Martínez and Francesco Berlingieri (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC). Policy experts shared insights into how social research is used to support evidence-based policies that foster inclusion, equality, and fairness for young people in Europe.
How Europeans view inequality – Susan Banducci (University of Birmingham) and István György Tóth (Tárki Social Research Institute). Academic experts introduced the core concepts and models underpinning the Equal Pillar, alongside an overview of data from major European surveys, delivered as part of our online workshop in April 2026.
Data sources overview – David Consolazio (University of Milan). Delivered as part of the Make it Strong workshop in March 2026, find out how more about the major European surveys represented in the project, and how to access and analyse their datasets.
Resilience in policymaking: From a concept to a compass – Péter Benczúr (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC). This presentation shared insights into how social research can inform evidence-based policy making at the European level, delivered as part of the Make it Strong workshop.
Generational perspective on social resilience in education, work and family – Rumiana Stoilova (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Delivered as part of the Make it Strong workshop in March 2026, this presentation offered an overview of the Topline Results report.
Policy relevance of data generation – Sylke Schnepf and Ilda Dreoni (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC). Policy makers highlighted how social research contributes to evidence-based green policies, delivered as part of the Make it Green workshop in February 2026.
Infra4NextGen data – Ruxandra Comănaru (City St George’s, University of London). Delivered as part of the Make it Green workshop in February 2026, watch a guide to accessing and analysing survey data provided by the Infra4NextGen project.
European attitudes to climate change, fairness, and action – Wouter Poortinga (Cardiff University). During the Make it Green workshop in February 2026, this presentation from our academic expert focuses on key findings from the self-completion panel survey (CRONOS-3).
How longitudinal data empower NGOs, journalists, and policymakers – Vytenis Deimantas (SHARE Berlin Institute). This webinar introduced how longitudinal and cohort data can strengthen decision-making and communication across public institutions, media, and civil society.
Bridging the gap: How to connect social research with the public and policymakers – Ruxandra Comănaru (City St George’s, University of London) and Yuliya Kazakova (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, NIDI). This webinar explored how insights from social research can better reach and benefit both the public and policymakers.
Exploring secondary and archival data in social science research: An introduction – Cara Booker (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex). This webinar provided an introduction into secondary and archival social science data, including where to find the data, how sampling will impact analyses and examples of secondary social science data analysis.
Data-driven insights for a green, digital, healthy, strong and equal Europe – Julia Geistberger and Lisa Hirsch (AUSSDA | Vienna University Library). The webinar showcased how participants of the second project Hackathon transformed panel survey data into recommendations for fostering sustainable policies.
Reproducible Workflows in R using the renv and targets packages – Franz Eder (University of Innsbruck). Participants learned how to use the renv-package to create reproducible environments for their R projects, and were introduced to the targets-package which enables them to maintain a reproducible workflow.
Accessing data from established European social science research programmes – Sergeja Masten and Irena Vipavc Brvar (Slovenian Social Science Data Archives, ABP). This webinar addressed how to access data from established European social science research programmes.
Using major European social surveys to answer research questions – Yuliya Kazakova (NIDI), David Consolazio (University of Milan) and Ruxandra Comănaru (City St George’s, University of London). Three research fellows shared their experiences in navigating the wealth of publicly available survey data.
Data protection in research – EU regulations, open science and anonymisation – Anita Bodlos (University of Innsbruck) and Lisa Hirsch (University of Vienna). The webinar explained how researchers can meet the requirements of European data protection laws while adhering to open science principles.
Data visualisation with R Studio and Jupyter – Franz Eder (University of Innsbruck). This webinar introduced the basics of visualisation, the criteria for good science graphics, the process of visualising data, and the role of colours and fonts. The second part of the webinar covered ggplot2 and its functions to create state-of-the-art plots.
Research Data Management: How to organise your research data and make your life easier – Anita Bodlos (University of Innsbruck) and Lisa Hirsch (University of Vienna). The webinar provided an overview of research data management in the social sciences and explained how best practices throughout the research data life cycle can be implemented.