International Conference

The Survey Futures Directors were delighted to host the Survey Futures International Conference which took 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 marked 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 were presented and discussed.  The event was aimed primarily at all those involved in commissioning, designing, or carrying out social surveys in the UK.

The Conference was hosted by City St George’s, University of London.

This was the programme for the conference:

Survey Futures International Conference Programme

17-18 June 2026

Day 1

9.30 – 10.00 – Welcome

10.00 – 11.00 – Introduction and Keynote

  • Introduction – Peter Lynn and Olga Maslovskaya
  • Keynote – Carina Cornesse, GESIS

11.00 – 11.30 – Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.40 – Sampling Frames

  • Enhanced sampling frames – opportunities and challenges – Paul A. Smith* and Anna Keyes
  • Linked Admin Data for Survey Sampling: A Theoretical Cost–Quality Comparison – Gerry Nicolaas* and Peter Cornick
  • Combining probability and non-probability samples – Dave Hussey*
  • An overview of how data linkage can improve social surveys – Alexandru Cernat*, Thomas O’Toole, Peter Barlow, Natalie Shlomo, Joe Sakshaug, Nikos Tzavidis

12.40 – 13.40 – Lunch

13.40 – 15.00 – Fieldwork

  • Safeguarding the Future of Face-to-Face Interviewing – Debbie Collins*, Sierra Mesplie-Escott and Ciaran Cummins
  • Knock-to Nudge Approach to Establishing Contact with Respondents: Participation, Representativeness and Data Quality – Olga Maslovskaya*, Cristian Domarchi and Peter WF Smith
  • Video interviewing in survey research: findings, implications, and future prospects – Matt Brown*, Tim Hanson*, Gabriele Durrant, Helena Koerber, Marc Asensio, Sebastian Kocar, Samantha Spencer and Carole Sanchez

15.00 – 15.20 – Coffee Break

15.20 – 17.00 – Recruitment and non-response

  • Recruitment for Surveys Without Field Interviewers: Improving Representativeness, Accessibility and Inclusivity – Cristian Domarchi*, Nhlanhla Ndebele, Olga Maslovskaya, Rory Fitzgerald, Peter Lynn and Ruxandra Comanaru
  • Web-Based Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) in High-Quality Surveys: Methods and Lessons Learned – Olga Maslovskaya, Curtis Jessop*, Carina Cornesse, Luciano Perfetti Villa, Mark Todd and Toby Li
  • Within-Household Selection – Nathan Reece* and Peter Lynn*
  • The old and the new. How UK face to face and self-completion surveys compare on representativeness and data quality – Rory Fitzgerald* and Nhlanhla Ndebele  
  • Do we still need nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys of the UK general population? Evidence from Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study – Gabriele Durrant, Annette Jäckle, Pablo Cabrera-Álvarez*, Jamie C. Moore, Jonathan Burton and Peter Smith

19.00 – Conference Dinner (Ironmongers’ Hall, Off Shaftesbury Pl, Aldersgate St, Barbican, London EC2Y 8AA)

Day 2

9.30 – 10.00 – Incentives

  • The Effectiveness of Differential Incentives in social surveys – Alessandra Gaia*, Matt Brown, Lisa Calderwood, Gerry Nicolaas, Curtis Jessop and Alex Scholes
  • Ethical considerations in the use of differential incentives – Alessandra Gaia, Matt Brown, Lisa Calderwood and Gerry Nicolaas*

10.00 – 11.00 – Mixed Modes

  • Mode Effects in Practice – Liam Wright*, Richard Silverwood and Georgia Tomova
  • A review of research designs to disentangle measurement and selection effects in mixed mode surveys – Annette Jäckle*, Jonathan Burton, and Mick P. Couper
  • How to mitigate against measurement effects when surveys move online: A Measurement Effect Risk Framework (MERF) and web questionnaire guidance – Zac Marco Perera*, Jo d’Ardenne, Richard Bull, Aditi Das and Olivia Sexton

11.00 – 11.30 – Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.30 – Complex Measurement

  • Complex measurement in online self-completion surveys: evidence, practice, and challenges – Matt Brown, Lisa Calderwood*, Cristian Domarchi, Helena Koerber and Olga Maslovskaya
  • Occupation coding in online self-completion surveys: evidence, practice, and challenges – Matt Brown, Lisa Calderwood, Cristian Domarchi, Sebastian Kocar, Helena Koerber* and Olga Maslovskaya
  • Consent to data linkage in web and face-to-face surveys: Patterns, biases, and interventions – Jim Vine*, Annette Jäckle, Jonathan Burton, and Mick P. Couper

12.30 – 13.30 – Lunch

13.30 – 14.10 – Generative AI

  • Integrating Generative AI in Questionnaire design, evaluation and testing – Patrick Sturgis*, Caroline Roberts* and Tom Robinson

14.10 – 14.20 – Training and Capacity Building

  • Training and Capacity Building needs for social researchers and commissioners – Gabriele Durrant* and Debbie Collins*

14.20 – 15.20 – Panel Discussion

The panellists are: Catrin Awoyemi (Chief Social Research Officer, Welsh Government), Nora Mielke (Office of the Chief Statistician, Scottish Government), Mike Daly (Central Analysis and Science Directorate, Department for Work and Pensions), Sarah Henry (Director, Methodology and Quality, Office for National Statistics).

15.20 – 15.50 – Coffee Break

15.50 – 17.00 – Conclusion

  • Reflections on conference themes – Prof Jon Krosnick, Stanford University
  • Discussion of future research priorities – All

17.00 – End