ESRA 2027 sessions by theme
Back to Overview of Sessions
Digital Inclusion? Generational, Gender and Educational Divides across Europe |
| Coordinator 1 | Dr David Consolazio (University of Milan/European Values Study (EVS)) |
| Coordinator 2 | Mr Lasse Marz (Bielefeld University) |
| Coordinator 3 | Professor Anja Abendroth (Bielefeld University) |
| Coordinator 4 | Dr Ruxandra Comanaru (European Social Survey HQ (City St George's, University of London)) |
| Coordinator 5 | Dr Yuliya Kazakova (Generations and Gender Programme (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute/Universtity of Groningen)) |
Session Details
Digital transformation is reshaping European societies, affecting how people work, communicate, access public services and participate in civic life. Research on the digital divide has evolved from a focus on inequalities in internet access towards examining differences in usage patterns, ICT skills, and the benefits and costs of ICT use. Overall, findings point to persistent inequalities between countries as well as across age, gender, and education. Against this backdrop, emerging technologies such as AI raise new questions about digital and social inequalities, underscoring the need for new representative data to study these developments.
The Infra4NextGen project has generated new comparative evidence on digital attitudes, behaviours and competencies through the CRONOS-3 panel, a probability-based, input-harmonised web and paper survey conducted across eleven European countries between 2024 and 2026. The Infra4NextGen waves were designed by bringing together European research infrastructures (European Social Survey, European Values Study, Gender and Generation Programmes, and CESSDA) with academic and policy experts, drawing on the ESS Round 10 “Digital Social Contacts” module to ensure items are relevant, methodologically sound and useful for policy, in line with Infra4NextGen's broader aim of supporting a strong, equal, digital, green and healthy Europe
This session invites submissions using the CRONOS-3 panel, other Infra4NextGen outputs (including harmonised datasets and the e-NextGen tool), or related comparative surveys to explore aspects of digitalisation across Europe. Relevant topics include digital inequalities, the use of online public services, artificial intelligence, digital literacy, privacy and cybersecurity concerns, and the social consequences of digital transformation. We particularly welcome papers that exploit the comparative potential of these new data sources while offering methodological advances and policy-relevant insights.
