On November 9^th LISER hosted a workshop, organised by Dr Agnieszka Walczak, which gathered academics and representatives of the public sector in Luxembourg.

The goal of the workshop was twofold. Firstly, the workshop aimed to inform the research community in Luxembourg about the European Social Survey and possibilities it offers for research. Secondly, the goal was to learn about the conditions of participation of Luxembourg in the European Social Survey European Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC). The workshop brought together the Director of ESS ERIC – Prof. Rory Fitzgerald – and a member of the Steering Committee of ESS ERIC – Prof. Peter Farago – as well as speakers both from Luxembourgish institutions such as the University of Luxembourg, LISER and Statec.

Luxembourg participated in the ESS survey only in the first two rounds, which took place in 2002 and 2004. The workshop stimulated the reflection whether Luxembourg could re-join the ESS survey in the future.

“For researchers working at Luxembourgish institutions the ESS is an important source of data for comparative research in social sciences. The survey lends itself to research in a variety of topics, ranging from trust in democratic institutions, immigration and health, to economic topics such as welfare state and redistribution – and the interest in the ESS data is growing in Luxembourg. Experiences in other countries show that the data has been widely used not only by academics, but also members of state institutions and the civil society - for example in Portugal members of the judiciary used the data to see how the judiciary is perceived by the society, which fed into their thought process about reforming the system. This example demonstrates how data can be used to achieve a positive impact on society”, said Dr Walczak.