CESSDA is the European network and multiplier organisation in the Big Data Europe (BDE) project for the social science domain and publishes a series of blog posts on the challenges and opportunities of big data for the social sciences.

One of the seven societal challenges as identified by Horizon2020 is “Europe in a changing world – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies”.

The primary goal of data research in social sciences is to facilitate more and wider use of high quality microdata in social, economic and political research and in turn, their ability to improve our understanding of ongoing societal processes, the problems involved and the solutions available.