The GOR conference in Berlin offers a full three-day programme. Can you give us a little foretaste? What highlights can participants expect this year?

Bella Struminskaya: The 27th GOR conference is taking place this year at the Freie Universität Berlin (in the Henry Ford Building) and we would like to thank our local partners, guest professor Dr. Carina Cornesse and Prof. Dr Stefan Liebig. 

This year, we remain true to the unique selling point of the GOR, the exchange between academic researchers and practitioners. In addition to the classic core topics of the GOR such as data quality in online surveys, response behaviour in online and mobile surveys and the representativeness of online panels, we will once again be covering a range of current topics such as data collection using smartphone sensors and apps, digital behavioural traces and the possibilities of big data and artificial intelligence. 

The keynotes are a special highlight at every GOR. The first keynote on Tuesday will be given by Stephanie Eckman, PhD, Principal Research Scientist at Amazon (USA). The second keynote will follow on Wednesday with Prof Dr Bent Mittelstadt, Professor of Data Ethics and Policy and Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford (UK). We are delighted that we have been able to attract these two high-calibre speakers!

The GOR conference traditionally stands for insights into the latest developments in online research. Which current trends are particularly reflected in this year's programme?

Yannick Rieder: A central topic area is of course AI, which will be particularly well represented at GOR. In addition to presentations on the opportunities and challenges of its application, the DGOF AI Forum will once again provide impetus at GOR. The AI Forum is a lively community of market and social researchers who have made it their mission to share knowledge about AI and drive the discourse forward. The AI Forum will begin with a keynote session in which experts will present new perspectives on AI. Examples from the previous year include presentations on the EU AI Act and current developments at the Fraunhofer Institute. The second session will invite interactive discussion to explore current experiences and questions in greater depth.

In any case, it will be exciting and interactive at the same time. All in all, the GOR will once again fulfil its claim to be the platform for innovation in market and social research.

Register here for the DGOF presentation at succeet25: 
Intelligent Documents: From Data to Deliverables with GenAI (DGOF KI Forum Pitch Winner)
February 13, 2025, 1:30 p.m. 
To the registration

With workshops, regular presentations and awards, the GOR offers a wide variety of formats. Are there any innovations or changes this year compared to previous years? 

Bella Struminskaya: In addition to the classic conference presentations, workshops and competitions such as the GOR Poster Award 2025 and the GOR Thesis Award 2025, which recognise the best poster and the best theses, we have actually integrated innovations again. Firstly, we have abolished the fixed subject areas for submissions. In the past, you could  one of the established tracks - Online & Mobile Research, Big Data & Data Science and Politics, Opinion Research & Communication. This is no longer necessary for this year's and future GOR conferences. This gives us more flexibility in the programme design and more room for innovative, ground-breaking contributions on current topics and trends in applied and academic research. We have also relaunched an exciting Impact & Innovation Award for very innovative contributions from the applied field. 

What is new or special about the Impact & Innovation Award?

Yannick Rieder: The GOR Impact & Innovation Award is a new edition of the Best Practice Award. We consulted with former jury members and participants and adapted the concept to reflect current developments in the industry. The number of submissions has fallen and we had to do something, because a GOR without an award that recognises the many innovations in our industry would be unthinkable.

The focus of the submissions is on "impact". The projects submitted should show how issues have been successfully resolved and how they have had a lasting impact on the commissioning company. At the same time, the cases should also be innovative and convincing through the use of AI, data science or smart online methods, in line with the main topics of the GOR.

We also have cases in the first edition of the award that are co-presented by customers, but this is no longer a specific requirement as it was before. Of course, we all prefer it when customers take part, but the breadth of submissions should not have to suffer as a result. We received a record number of submissions for 2025 - three times as many as before. We can therefore already say that a total of five to six projects will be competing for the new "Impact & Innovation" trophy in two full sessions.

How did the programme planning go this year? Were there many submissions? And are you satisfied with the final result?

Bella Struminskaya: When planning the programme, Prof. Dr. Simon Kühne and I, as programme managers, were once again able to rely on the support of many abstract reviewers and our programme committee. We are very pleased with the submissions and the diverse programme, which we will publish in mid-January. We are delighted to be able to offer more than 90 contributions at the conference this year. As usual, there will also be other highlights at the conference. On Monday evening, GOR participants can look forward to early-career speed networking and a get-together. The popular GOR party will take place on Tuesday evening. 

 

Bella Struminskaya is Associate Professor at the Department of Methodology & Statistics. Prior to joining Utrecht University, she was a senior researcher at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences at the Department Survey Design and Methodology. Her research interests include survey methodology, smartphone surveys, smartphone sensors & passive data collection using mobile devices, data donation, online and mixed-mode surveys, nonresponse and measuremnt errors in surveys, panel effects, and paradata. She is also a board member of the German Society for Online Research and programme chair of the General Online Research Conference (GOR). She is a member of the Methods Board of the European Social Survey, country team lead for the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE ERIC), member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Statistics Sweden, and a member of the Quality Assurance Board of the GESIS Panel, Robert Koch Institute's Panel “Health in Germany”, and of the Data Collection Committee of ODISSEI (Open Data Infrastructure for Social Science and Economic Innovations). 

Yannick Rieder is Market Research Manager at Janssen, the pharmaceutical division of Johnson & Johnson, where he is responsible for international market research studies. His passion lies in implementing innovative approaches to gain in-depth customer and market insights. He has been doing this successfully for over 10 years, both on the agency and industry side. He is also a board member of the German Society for Online Research (DGOF).