The collaborative research program started in 2008 when FORS was established in Lausanne. With the arrival of FORS, the University of Lausanne committed to fund a scientific programme on a permanent basis. Historically the programme is rooted in the collaboration between various institutional groups at UNIL (MISC and PAVIE, LINES from 2011 onwards) as well as different FORS projects and activities.
The original research lines developed in these earlier collaborations remain until today and are reflected in the different research axes. However, it has become enriched and strengthened through the lively exchange and fruitful collaboration with several other important actors: first with the LIVES Centre which has been from its start in 2011 very much intertwined with the FORS-SSP research programme based on methods, research topics and persons involved.
This strong collaboration contributed profoundly to the increasing importance of – in particular the collection of high-quality longitudinal data as well as the accompanying methodological tools for the analyses – on the regional, national and international level. A further collaborator is GREC which has been developed as a joint research unit within SSP and which deepens the expertise on electoral behaviour.
