International Conference

The Survey Futures Directors are delighted to invite you to attend the Survey Futures International Conference which is taking place on the 17th and 18th June 2026.

Social surveys have faced multiple challenges in recent years, and it has become increasingly difficult to collect high quality survey data. The Survey Futures Conference marks the culmination of a three-year cross-sector collaboration which has aimed to tackle these challenges by providing research evidence and practical insights that will inform the design and implementation of high-quality social surveys over the coming years.

Survey Futures was established in 2023 by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council. The aim was to deliver a step change in survey research to ensure that it will remain possible in the UK to carry out high quality social surveys of the kinds required by the public and academic sectors to monitor and understand society, and to provide an evidence base for policy.

Over two days, the research findings and conclusions from nine strands of research and related activities will be presented and discussed.  The event is aimed primarily at all those involved in commissioning, designing, or carrying out social surveys in the UK.

The Conference will be hosted by City St George’s, University of London. Register now here to reserve your place.

This is the preliminary programme for the conference:

Day 1

9.30 –  Welcome and Coffee

10.00 – Keynote: Carina Cornesse (GESIS)

11.00 – Coffee Break

11.30 – Sampling Frames

12.40 – Lunch

13.40 –  Field work

15.00 – Coffee Break

15.20 –  Recruitment and non-response

17.00 – End

19.30 – Conference Dinner

Day 2

9.30 – Incentives

10.00 – Mixed Mode Data Collection

11.00 –  Coffee Break

11.30 – Complex Measurement in self-completion surveys

12.30 –  Lunch

13.30 –  Generative AI in Survey Research

14.10 – Training and Capacity Building

14.20 – Panel Discussion

15.40 –  Coffee Break

16.10 – Concluding remarks and discussion of future research priorities

17.00 – End