New General Assembly Chair and advisory boards

The European Social Survey (ESS) has announced a new Chair of its General Assembly and revised membership of two advisory boards.

Professor Ann-Helén Bay (Oslo Metropolitan University) was appointed Chair following a vote of the ESS General Assembly at a meeting earlier this month.

Professor Bay becomes only the second Chair of the ESS General Assembly, replacing Professor Michael Breen who was appointed when the project became a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2013.

Professor Bay will chair her first meeting of the ESS General Assembly in November 2023.

Professor Rory Fitzgerald, Director of the ESS, said: “I am delighted that Ann-Helén Bay has been appointed as Chair of the ESS ERIC General Assembly.

“Ann-Helén was part of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ESS before we became an ERIC in 2013, so understands the history of the infrastructure. She is also experienced in social surveys and has excellent organisational experience.

“I am looking forward to working with Ann-Helén to ensure ESS stays at the forefront of services to support excellent social science into the future.”

Professor Ann-Helén Bay added: “I see the European Social Survey as a great gift to empirically oriented international social research, and I very much look forward to rejoining the ESS community as General Assembly Chair.”

The composition for the Methods Advisory Board (MAB) and Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the ESS were also updated.

It was agreed by national representatives at the General Assembly to increase the number of MAB members from six to eight members due to the methodological challenges being faced by the ESS at the current time.

The new composition of the MAB is therefore:

Michael Bosnjak (University of Trier, Germany) - retained
Marieke Haan (University of Groningen, Netherlands) - new
Johan Martinsson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) - retained
Olga Maslovskaya (University of Southampton, United Kingdom) - new
Caroline Roberts (University of Lausanne and FORS, Switzerland) - retained
Nicolas Sauger (Sciences Po, France) - new
Signe Bock Segaard (Institute for Social Research, Norway) - new
Bella Struminskaya (Utrecht University, Netherlands) - new

Meanwhile, the number of SAB members has also increased, from eight to 10 members. Four members of the Board were retained, with six new representatives added.

Membership of the SAB is now:

Dana Hamplová (Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia) - retained
Karsten Hank (University of Cologne, Germany) - retained
Hester van Herk (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands) - new
Elisabeth Ivarsflaten (University of Bergen, Norway) - new
Willem de Koster (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) - new
Luisa Lima (ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal) - new
Caroline Rapp (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) - retained
Kjell Gunnar Salvanes (NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Norway) - new
Åsa von Schoultz (University of Helsinki, Finland) - new
Tom Smith (National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, USA) - retained

Professor Rory Fitzgerald, Director of the ESS, said: “I extend a warm welcome to our new members of the ESS ERIC advisory boards.

“The MAB and SAB play a crucial role in supporting the General Assembly of ESS and the Core Scientific Team to ensure that ESS delivers excellent data.

“The board members join at a critical time for the ESS as its switches from being a face to face to a self-completion (web and paper) survey.

“I am looking forward to working with them and extend my congratulations to the new board members.

“I would also like to thank our continuing board members for the continuity they provide and the retiring members for their many years of service.”