Talking about research infrastructures – a guide to vocabulary

ERIC – a “European Research Infrastructure Consortium” is a consortium of EU funding agencies who agree to contribute to the expenses of an infrastructure for research in a particular research area, e.g. election studies

CERES – a “Consortium for European Research with Election Studies” is a consortium of scholars interested in supporting and promoting the idea of an ERIC and available for consultations with the EU’s DG research should they be willing to discuss such a development. Founded at the ECPR meeting at Reykjavik in 2011, next General Meeting to be held in conjunction with the ECPR in Bordeaux in September 2013.

PIREDEU – an “Infrastructure Design Study” funded in 2008-2011 by the EU’s DG Research to design an infrastructure of the ERIC variety: “Providing an Infrastructure for Research on Electoral Democracy in the European Union”. This design study contained, as a feasibility study for the proposed infrastructure, the “European Election Study 2009”

EES – the “European Election Studies” association is an association of scholars involved in conducting studies of elections to the European Parliament every five years: the group of scholars who received funding for PIREDEU.