What does it mean to live in an increasingly digital society – today and in the future? While digital technologies create unprecedented opportunities for communication, education, and civic participation, they also expose and reinforce existing inequalities. Variations in access to digital tools, levels of digital skills, and patterns of technology use – commonly described as the digital divide – shape how individuals and groups benefit from digitalisation. 

At the same time, growing connectivity introduces new challenges. Digital stress, information overload, and the social dynamics of online environments, particularly social media, are reshaping how people interact, work, and engage with society. 

The Infra4NextGen “Make It Digital” workshop explores how social science research and cross-national European data can deepen our understanding of digital transformation and its societal consequences. Focusing on key dimensions such as access, skills, wellbeing, and inclusion, the workshop examines how digital inequalities intersect with broader social and economic disparities.  

Participants will work with comparative survey data to: 

• Analyse patterns of digital access and usage across Europe  
• Explore the impacts of digital technologies on wellbeing, participation, and social cohesion  
• Investigate the role of social media in shaping individual and collective experiences  

Combining expert insights with hands-on data analysis, the workshop equips participants with practical skills to use European research infrastructures for evidence-based research and policymaking. 

The event brings together leading experts from academia, European research infrastructures, and the European Commission, offering a unique opportunity to engage with both cutting-edge research and policy perspectives on digital transformation. 

Agenda 

Morning Session | 9am-12pm  

• Digitalisation in Europe: Research Insights and and Key Challenges (Lasse Marz and Anja Abendroth)   
• Data sources overview   
• Infra4NextGen data   
• Informing EU Policy: The role of Surveys (Beatrice Dhombres) 
• Q&A   

Afternoon Session | 1-4pm 

• Hands-on work with real data and tools from the morning   
• Develop individual or group research questions   
• Conduct preliminary analyses   
• Reflect on research design, findings, and next steps   
• Collaborative discussion and feedback 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: 

• Understand digitalisation across access, skills, use, and digital stress  
• Use European survey data (e.g. ESS, EVS, GGS) to analyse digital inequalities  
• Assess drivers of the digital divide (e.g. education, age, socioeconomic status)  
• Evaluate societal impacts of digital technologies and social media  
• Develop policy-relevant insights from data  
• Collaborate on applied research and present findings 

Register now