GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
The GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences is the largest German infrastructure institute for the social sciences. It is headquartered in Mannheim, with a location in Cologne. With basic research-based services and consulting covering all levels of the scientific process, GESIS supports researchers in the social sciences. As of 2017, the president of GESIS is Christof Wolf. GESIS is part of the Leibniz Association and receives federal and state funding. History. Established in 1986 as German Social Science Infrastructure Services (), GESIS originally consisted of the three independent institutes: In 2007, the  three GESIS institutes merged into one. In November 2008, GESIS added "Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences" to its name in order to emphasize its membership in the Leibniz Association. In November 2011, GESIS Bonn and Cologne were merged into one location in Cologne. Services. The GESIS social science services available to support the work of researchers are aligned to the five phases of the research data cycle. Training. GESIS offers a wide range of events, especially training courses in social research methods, that develop participants’ applied research methods skills in depth and in breadth covering the whole survey life  cycle. Since 2012 the GESIS Summer School in Survey Methodology is offered for PhD students and young researchers. The GESIS Spring Seminar on advanced methods of quantitative data analysis and the GESIS Methodenseminar on basic knowledge and skills in quantitative data analysis are taking place for over 40 and 30 years, respectively. The trainings are completed by GESIS Workshops on current research methods and survey programs. Research. GESIS conducts research on content and methodology focusing on survey methodology, social structure, attitudes and behaviors in modern societies, applied computer science and information science. GESIS Research Data Centers. The GESIS Research Data  Centers carry out knowledge transfer in continuing education offers and publications based on own content research and offer data services and consulting for users. GESIS Journals. GESIS publishes multiple academic journals in the area of the social sciences. Executive board and statutory bodies. GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences is a registered organization with the following statutory bodies: Since June 2015, Prof. Dr. Christof Wolf is acting as the interim president of GESIS. Organization. GESIS is divided into five scientific departments; their research-based services and products cover the entire spectrum of empirical social research. The research data centers  are positioned across all the departments. In addition to access to unique data, they also provide special preparation of existing datasets, additional materials and context information as well as offering consulting based on own research.