The European Social Survey (ESS) is an academically driven cross-national survey that has been conducted across Europe since its establishment in 2001. Every two years, face-to-face interviews are conducted with newly selected, cross-sectional samples. The survey measures the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour patterns of diverse populations in more than thirty nations. The ESS was awarded ERIC status by the European Commission in 2013 and comprises 28 member countries and one observer country. The ESS data is available free of charge for non-commercial use.

GESIS is one of seven institutions collaborating as the Core Scientific Team (CST) to support the ESS Director Prof Rory Fitzgerald in the design and implementation of the ESS ERIC Work Programmes. In the CST, GESIS is collaborating with City, University of London (UK), Centerdata (Netherlands), Sikt - Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Norway), SCP - The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (Netherlands), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain), University of Essex (UK), and University of Ljubljana (Slovenia).

Scientists at GESIS, specialized in cross-country survey methods, fulfils major tasks of quality assurance in the fields of questionnaire translation, fieldwork monitoring, and quality reporting. The ESS team at GESIS organizes the meetings of the National Coordinators’ Forum. Dr Angelika Scheuer serves as Deputy Director External and supports the Scientific Advisory Board of the ESS ERIC.

The 6th ESS ERIC Work Programme covers the preparation and implementation of the data collection of Round 12 of the European Social Survey (2025). It also includes a new work package on self-completion mode development, as the ESS will transition to a fully self-completion data collection approach from Round 13 (2027).