The European Social Survey (the ESS) is an academically-driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. Now in its fourth round, the survey covers over 30 nations and employs the most rigorous methodologies. The survey has been funded through the European Commission’s fifth and sixth Framework Programme, the European Science Foundation and national funding bodies in each country. A copy of the ESS brochure is available here.

The ESS is also among the first social science projects to receive funding to support its infrastructure and in 2005 was awarded Europe’s top annual science award, the Descartes prize. For more information about how the prize money is being used, please click here.

The project is directed by a Central Co-ordinating Team led by Roger Jowell at the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys, City University, UK. The six other partners are:

• Bjorn Henrichsen at NSD, Norway
• Peter Mohler at GESIS-ZUMA, Germany
• Ineke Stoop at SCP, Netherlands
• Willem Saris at ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain
• Jaak Billiet at the University of Leuven, Belgium
• Brina Malnar at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

If you have a general enquiry about the ESS, contact the team at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If your query concerns access to data, contact the archive at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .