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Webinar for rotating module applicants

The European Social Survey (ESS) will be hosting a webinar for prospective question module design teams from 2-3pm (GMT) on Thursday 8 February.

The virtual question and answer (Q&A) session is open to anyone with an interest in proposing questions on a single academic area and/or policy concern in the ESS.

It was announced earlier this month that teams of researchers can now apply to include 15 or 30 item modules in Round 13 of the survey, currently due to be fielded in 2027/28.

Applications for new topics or repeated modules are invited from teams of researchers based at institutions in at least three different ESS participating countries. 

The option to include a 15-item module has been introduced for Round 13 to encourage applications on relevant topics that may not require as many as 30 questions.

As in previous rounds, there will be a two-stage application process for submitting proposals to this open competition - the deadline for Stage 1 applications is Friday 26 April 2024.

The Q&A session will be hosted by ESS director, Rory Fitzgerald; ESS deputy director, Angelika Scheuer; and ESS Senior Research Fellow, Tim Hanson.

The panellists will be willing to answer any queries related to the process of the call for questions, and what will happen should a proposal be selected.

Additionally, Anthony Heath (Nuffield College, University of Oxford) will be able to answer any queries related to the application process and the role of the chosen module design teams.

Professor Heath successfully applied to field questions on immigration in Round 7 (2014/15) of the survey, and is currently working with the ESS to develop a repeat of this module in Round 12 (2025/26).

Visit our Source Questionnaire section to read successful proposals, module abstracts and question module design team compositions from previous rounds.

Round 13 fieldwork is currently scheduled to take place from September 2027, with the survey data collected made available for analysis in 2028 (more precise timings are to be confirmed). 

Round 13 will mark a significant change for the ESS with data collected using self-completion questionnaires (web and paper) rather than face to face interviews.

The webinar has now taken place. A recording of the Q&A is available: