The goal of the SoGreen project is to enhance the capacities of the four leading social science infrastructures in Europe ESS ERIC, SHARE ERIC, GGP and GUIDE, and generate valuable insights aimed at facilitating the study and evaluation of the social aspects of the green transition for different generations and socioeconomic groups across Europe, using a life-course perspective. SoGreen will contribute to the work programme topic “Next generation of scientific instrumentation, tools and methods and advanced digital solutions” by developing new services, comprising innovative tools, solutions, and questionnaire modules related to the social aspects of the green transition. The unique longitudinal and multi-generational perspective of the infrastructures involved goes beyond the state of the art by integrating new data and novel analytical frameworks to foster interdisciplinary insights on the green transition at national and regional levels, including new services, including geospatial data linkable with survey datasets and new visualisation tools. Central to our approach is the collaborative development of a new tool, the Green Transition Questionnaire Module, to ensure coherence in addressing environmental themes which will then be fielded within the different surveys. Moreover, we will also prepare harmonised aggregates of collected data and their visualization through a joint dissemination platform, enhancing accessibility and promoting consistency in data interpretation across various studies. The Knowledge Mobilisation Lab will be another new and innovative tool to identify, build, and engage a multifaceted network of different audiences and stakeholders. This includes professionals from policy, research, non-profit, and private sectors, thus actively shaping the discourse and informing developments related to the green transition.

The Growing Up in Digital Europe Preparatory Phase (GUIDEPREP) project further develops the research infrastructure (RI) necessary to implement the GUIDE birth cohort study. This preparatory work will take place across 2022 to 2025 to ready the RI for the full-scale piloting of the GUIDE in 2026 and the first full wave of data collection in 2027. Once operational, GUIDE will collect data about individual children growing up in Europe until those children are aged 24-years in approximately 2053. GUIDE will be Europe’s first comparative birth cohort study of children’s and young people’s wellbeing. The aim of the GUIDE study is to track children’s personal wellbeing and development, in combination with key indicators of children’s homes, neighbourhoods, and schools, across Europe. GUIDE will be an accelerated cohort survey including a sample of infants as well as a sample of school age children. Each Member State and Associated Country will provide nationally representative samples that are designed to retain statistical power throughout the lifetime of the study. The harmonized design will create the first internationally comparable, nationally representative, longitudinal study of children and young people in Europe. Currently the GUIDE RI is in its preparatory phase, which involves the establishment of necessary operational procedures and further crystallisation of the study concept and design. To realise the GUIDE full-scale pilot in 2026 and first wave of fieldwork in 2027, the RI needs to develop administratively, technologically, financially, scientifically, and legally. This GUIDEPREP proposal lays out clear aims for these developments in an interlocking system of activities that are shared across consortium partners and managed by the GUIDE leadership team.

START2ACT aims to reduce residential energy consumption in the EU via changing the behaviour of consumers in their everyday lives by approaching them at their workplace. With a focus on European start-ups and young SMEs, the project aims at triggering action by young entrepreneurs and their emerging enterprises as well as by the owners and staff of young SMEs to introduce energy efficiency measures within their daily routines. Even though each start-up and SME consumes relatively small energy amounts, the collective environmental impact of 20 million SMEs in the EU is massive, contributing to 64% of environmental impact. Active engagement of start-ups and young SMEs is essential in order to reach the 20-20-20 EU goals and there is market potential for almost all enterprises to cost effectively reduce their energy consumption. START2ACT will unleash the potential of energy savings at European start-ups and young SMEs via a set of innovative educational and capacity building measures. A key area of intervention to increase energy efficiency through behavioural change is office equipment, the fastest growing energy user in the business world, consuming 15% of the total electricity used in offices, which is expected to rise to 30% by 2020. START2ACT aims to trigger the use and uptake of the many available tools and solutions offering a great potential for energy and money savings, yet not adequately used due to lack of understanding of how to use them in practice and due to insufficient engagement of people towards changing behaviour in everyday life. START2ACT aims also to trigger sustainable procurement of office equipment, including the selection and furnishings of premises (HVAC, lighting, etc.), and goods and services. In so doing, START2ACT will sow the seeds of a sustainable energy culture in start-ups and young SMEs.

This proposal outlines a detailed plan for ensuring the sustainability of one of Europe’s leading social science research infrastructures - the European Social Survey, European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC). As a comparative general social survey the ESS needs to have generous national coverage to provide analytical power and ensure it keeps up with the changing scientific and research infrastructure landscape. Failure in one or more of these areas could damage or even destroy the infrastructure. This grant will substantially reduce the risk by securing the medium-term sustainability of the infrastructure and making it more resilient towards future challenges. The ESS has responded effectively to the ESFRI approach since it became an ERIC in 2013 and receives sizeable financial contributions from its members for core activities. ESS-SUSTAIN-2 aims to build on that support and creates sustainability through a structural strengthening of the ESS and by future proofing the infrastructure. ESS is not seeking another few years Commission funding to keep it afloat, an approach unlikely to yield long-term sustainability (and in any event these costs are now met by ERIC members). Rather it seeks a vital helping hand to help complete the transition of the ESS into a research infrastructure that is financially sound and scientifically equipped for the future. By developing links with the European Values Survey, establishing global partners, engaging with policy makers, harnessing technology to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness and launching the world’s first probability-based online panel, this proposal aims to give the European Social Survey the strongest possible foundation to succeed in the years ahead.