02 Jul 2026
MEDem Included in ESFRI Roadmap 2026
The European research infrastructure MEDem (Monitoring Electoral Democracy) has been selected for the ESFRI Roadmap 2026, marking a major milestone for democracy research in Europe. Supported by 15 European countries — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia and Switzerland — MEDem will be headquartered at the University of Vienna.
The inclusion in the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) highlights the growing importance of reliable data and independent research on democratic developments. Austrian Federal Minister of Women, Science and Research Eva-Maria Holzleitner called the decision “a strong signal for democracy research in Europe” and “a major success for Austria as a centre of research.”
MEDem will make data on democratic developments across Europe searchable, comparable and linkable. Its scope covers voters and political parties, parliaments and governments, as well as journalism and political communication. To support this work, the infrastructure will develop common standards, interfaces and digital tools for finding, connecting, harmonising, analysing and visualising social science data.
As a distributed research infrastructure, MEDem brings together partners at the University of Vienna, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Gothenburg, University of Silesia in Katowice, LUISS University in Rome, GESIS in Germany and FORS in Switzerland.
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