Structure and Governance
General Assembly, Boards and Committees
The ESS ERIC is governed by a General Assembly which appoints the Director. The governance arrangements are detailed in the ESS ERIC Statutes and are elaborated as required in the Standing Orders.
The Commission Implementing Decision setting up the ESS as an ERIC was published on 30 November 2013.
The activities of the ESS ERIC are detailed in its Annual Activity Reports. The Annual Activity Report 2014-2015 is available.
Members of the General Assembly are represented by a National Representative. The Chair of the General Assembly is Professor Michael Breen, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland. The Deputy Chair is Professor Algis Krupavičius, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania.
The General Assembly has three standing committees: a Scientific Advisory Board, a Methods Advisory Board and a Finance Committee. More information on their activity and membership can be found below.
ESS ERIC General Assembly, National Representatives
- Austria: Matthias Reiter-Pázmándy, Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy
- Belgium: Bart Dumolyn, delegated representative from the Flemish Department of Economy, Science and Innovation (representing the Flemish Community) and Marc Vanholsbeeck, delegated representative from the Federation Wallonia-Brussels (representing the French-speaking Community)
- Czech Republic: Petr Ventluka, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
- Estonia: Marju Raju, Ministry of Social Affairs
- France: Pascal Buleon, School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHSS), acting in association with the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the National Foundation for Political Sciences
- Germany: Monika van Ooyen, Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- Hungary: Fanni Szabó, National Research, Development and Innovation Office
- Ireland: Dr. Eucharia Meehan, Irish Research Council (HEA)
- Italy: Dr. Stefano Sacchi, National Institute for Public Policy Analysis (INAPP)
- Lithuania: Professor Algis Krupavičius, delegated representative of the Ministry of Education and Science
- Netherlands: Joris Voskuilen, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
- Norway: Ministry of Education and Research, represented by Dr. Ingunn Stangeby, Research Council of Norway
- Poland: Dariusz Drewniak, Ministry of Science and Higher Education
- Portugal: Foundation for Science and Technology
- Slovenia: Dr. Albin Kralj, Ministry of Education, Science and Sport
- Sweden: Professor Michael Tåhlin, delegated representative from the Swedish Research Council
- UK: Kirsty Grainger, Economic and Social Research Council (Host Country)
Switzerland is an Observer and is represented by Professor Georg Lutz, FORS (Swiss Foundation for Research in Social Sciences).
Countries with Guest status in Round 8 include Finland, represented by Helena Vänskä, Academy of Finland; Iceland, represented by Dr. Gudbjorg Andrea Jonsdottir, Social Science Research Institute, University of Iceland; Israel, represented by Dr. Hagit Schwimmer, Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space; Slovakia, represented by Michel Kentǒs, Centre of Social and Psychological Services, Slovak Academy of Sciences; and Spain, represented by CIS – Centre for Sociological Research.
ESS ERIC Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprises eight members, appointed by the General Assembly following nominations from its Members. It appointed its Chair, Professor Jacqueline Scott, at its first meeting.
- Professor Ann Helen Bay, Institute for Social Research, Oslo, Norway
- Professor Piet Bracke, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
- Professor Joao Ferreira de Almeida, ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal
- Professor Max Kaase (formerly Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany)
- Professor Anu Realo, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Professor Nicolas Sauger, Sciences Po, Paris, France
- Professor Shalom Schwartz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Professor Jacqueline Scott, Queen’s College, Cambridge, UK (Chair)
The ESS ERIC Director, Rory Fitzgerald (ESS ERIC HQ at City, University of London) and the ESS ERIC Deputy Director - Scientific, Dr. Angelika Scheuer (Core Scientific Team - GESIS) attend SAB meetings as observers.
ESS ERIC Methods Advisory Board (MAB)
The Methods Advisory Board (MAB) advises the General Assembly, the Director and the Core Scientific Team on technical and methodological aspects of the survey. It comprises six members, appointed by the General Assembly following nominations from its Members.
- Professor Annelies Blom, University of Mannheim, Germany
- Professor Mick Couper, ISR Michigan, USA
- Professor Daniel Defays, University of Liege (Eurostat), Belgium
- Professor Dominique Joyé, Lausanne University, Switzerland
- Professor Lars Lyberg, Statistics Sweden, Sweden
- Professor Patrick Sturgis, University of Southampton, UK
The ESS ERIC Director, Rory Fitzgerald (ESS ERIC HQ at City, University of London) and the ESS ERIC Deputy Director - Methodological, Dr. Ineke Stoop (Core Scientific Team - SCP, The Netherlands) attend MAB meetings as observers.
ESS ERIC Finance Committee (FINCOM)
The Finance Committee (FINCOM) is comprised of four members, two of which are National Representatives at the General Assembly. FINCOM advises the General Assembly and the Director on the financial health of the ESS ERIC.
- Dr. Eckard Kämper, DFG, Germany (external expert)
- Laurent Pinon, Research Ministry, France (external expert)
- Kirsty Grainger, ESRC, UK (chair, national representative)
- Ingunn Stangeby, RCN, Norway (national representative)
The ESS ERIC Director, Rory Fitzgerald (ESS ERIC HQ at City, University of London) attends FINCOM meetings as observer.
Director and Committees of the Director
The ESS ERIC Headquarters are hosted by City, University of London (UK). The Centre was established in 2003 by its Founding Director Roger Jowell, who led it until his death in December 2011.
Prior to October 2003, the ESS was hosted by the National Centre for Social Research, whose generous support and development made the project possible.
The current complement of staff at ESS ERIC HQ is:
- Professor Rory Fitzgerald (Director, ESS ERIC), Dr. Eric Harrison (Deputy Director, ESS ERIC), Dr. Sarah Butt, Dr. Salima Douhou, Claire Harding, Mary Keane, Virginia Ros, Dr. Lorna Ryan, Luca Salini, Elena Sommer, Dr. Henk Stronkhorst, Stefan Swift, Dr. Ana Villar
The Director, Professor Rory Fitzgerald, is supported in the design and implementation of the ESS ERIC Work Programme by the Core Scientific Team (CST), comprising seven institutions. These are:
Deputy Directors are in post in four institutions:
- Deputy Director: Dr. Eric Harrison, ESS ERIC HQ, City, University of London
- Deputy Director - Scientific: Dr. Angelika Scheuer, GESIS
- Deputy Director - Methodological: Dr. Ineke Stoop, SCP
- Deputy Director - Strategic: Bjørn Henrichsen, NSD
More information on the membership of the CST can be found below.
ESS ERIC Core Scientific Team (CST), institutions and members
- ESS ERIC HQ, City, University of London (UK): Dr. Rory Fitzgerald (Director), Dr. Eric Harrison, Dr. Sarah Butt, Dr. Salima Douhou, Virginia Ros, Dr. Lorna Ryan, Luca Salini, Elena Sommer, Stefan Swift, Dr. Ana Villar, Lizzy Winstone
- GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (Germany): Dr. Angelika Scheuer, Roberto Briceño-Rosas, Brita Dorer, Monika Graf, Verena Halbherr, Achim Koch, Dr. Stefan Zins
- KU Leuven (University of Leuven) (Belgium): Professor Geert Loosveldt, Dr. Koen Beullens
- NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data (Norway): Director Bjørn Henrichsen, Dr. Knut Kalgraff Skjåk, Kirstine Kolsrud
- SCP - The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (Netherlands): Dr. Ineke Stoop, Dr. Joost Kappelhof, Dr. Sander Steijn
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain): Dr. Wiebke Weber, Anna DeCastellarnau, Dr. Melanie Revilla, Dr. Diana Zavala Rojas
- University of Ljubljana (Slovenia): Dr. Brina Malnar, Dr. Vasja Vehovar
The Director also convenes a National Coordinators’ Forum, attended by National Coordinators appointed by ESS ERIC Members, Observers and Guests.
ESS National Coordinators (NCs)
- Austria: Austria: Johannes Pollak and Beate Littig, Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS)
- Belgium: Celine Wuyts, University of Leuven and Patrick Italiano, University of Liege
- Czech Republic: Klára Plecitá, Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
- Estonia: Mare Ainsaar, University of Tartu
- Finland: Heikki Ervasti, University of Turku
- France: Anne Cornilleau, Sciences Po
- Germany: Stefan Liebig, Bielefeld University
- Hungary: Bence Ságvári, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Iceland: Stefan Hrafn Jonsson, University of Iceland
- Ireland: Brendan O’Keeffe, Mary Immaculate College
- Israel: Noah Lewin-Epstein, Tel Aviv University
- Italy: Cristiano Vezzoni, University of Trento
- Lithuania: Vaidas Morkevicius, Kaunas University of Technology
- Netherlands: Gerbert Kraaykamp, Radboud University
- Norway: Kristen Ringdal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
- Poland: Pawel Sztabinski and Franciszek Sztabinski, Polish Academy of Sciences
- Portugal: Jorge Vala, Institute of Social Sciences (ICS)
- Russia: Anna Andreenkova, Institute for Comparative Social Research (CESSI)
- Slovakia: Jozef Vyrost, Slovak Academy of Sciences
- Slovenia: Slavko Kurdija, University of Ljubljana
- Spain: Mónica Mendez, Centre for Sociological Research (CSIC)
- Sweden: Mikael Hjerm, Umeå University
- Switzerland: Michèle Ernst Stähli, FORS - Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences
- UK: Alun Humphrey, NatCen Social Research