With “Demain la Suisse”, Switzerland launched a major research programme in the 1990s that aimed at “revitalising” social sciences in Switzerland. Within the context of this programme, the idea originated to create a centre of expertise to unite a number of long-term social science projects under the umbrella of a single institution.
FORS was finally established as a new social science institution in Switzerland in 2008. FORS pooled the responsibility for a number of existing long-term projects, including the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), the Swiss Electoral Studies SELECTS and SIDOS, and the Swiss Information and Data Archive for the Social Sciences. Bringing together researchers that were working on large-scale survey projects and data services within a new social science infrastructure in Switzerland created a unique environment to focus and develop knowledge regarding how to collect, archive and disseminate social science data, but also about how to provide services to social scientists in a broader sense.
FORS celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018 with a symposium. On this occasion, retired FORS Director Prof. Peter Farago illustrated the founding history of FORS. The presentation can be read here:
Designing and Creating a
Social Science Research Infrastructure in Switzerland
