The Rise of Social Science Infrastructures in Europe and Italy

Probabilistic panel infrastructures are becoming essential components of Europe’s social science research ecosystem. Their methodological rigour, capacity for longitudinal tracking, and alignment with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles make them particularly well-suited to addressing the complexity of contemporary societal dynamics. Italy, in alignment with broader European trends, is adopting and developing such infrastructures by integrating advanced statistical tools, digital innovation, and open science practices. This chapter discusses the role of the European Commission, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures—ESFRI Roadmap, the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) legal framework and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) environment, underlining how social science in Italy is aligning and evolving to achieve the standards indicated by mayor longitudinal social science research infrastructures. This chapter serves as an introduction to key European social research infrastructures that are further explored in the following chapters. It briefly presents the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-ERIC) and the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA-ERIC) as foundational tools for Open Science in the social sciences and outlines the implementation of international surveys such as Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) and Growing Up in Digital Europe (GUIDE) in Europe and in its implementation in Italy. The chapter also introduces the first Italian Online Probability Panel (IOPP), currently under development, as a solution to avoid effort duplication and provide fast and dependable data for researchers.