The MESS project / LISS panel In 2006, CentERdata received major NWO funding for the project: an advanced multi-disciplinary facility for Measurement and Experimentation in the Social Sciences (MESS). This NWO subsidy was instituted by the Cabinet with a view to boosting the Dutch knowledge economy and the climate for innovation in our country. The proposal was submitted by Marcel Das, Arie Kapteyn, and Arthur van Soest. These funds have been used to establish a new online panel of 5,000 Dutch households: the LISS panel (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social sciences). The panel is the core component of the MESS project and is based on a true probability sample of households drawn from the population register by Statistics Netherlands. Households that could otherwise not participate are provided with a computer and Internet connection. The LISS panel focuses on fundamental longitudinal research and provides a laboratory for the development and testing of new, innovative research techniques. The first questionnaires presented to the LISS panel were fielded in the autumn of 2007. We invite universities, research schools, and individual academics to submit research proposals, which they can carry out in this panel free of charge. A Board of Overseers protects the project’s quality and will assess and select the submitted research proposals. The Board of Overseers is composed of professors from a variety of disciplines and universities. The MESS project is strongly geared to integrating different academic disciplines. Economics and the social sciences often collaborate in survey-based research, and now we mean to branch out into the medical and biomedical sciences and the behavioral sciences. We also aim to investigate themes that are current in other national household panels in Europe and the US, which will facilitate international comparison. On August 22-23, 2008 the second MESS workshop has taken place. A number of presentations/papers is available here. On August 28-29, 2009 the third MESS workshop has taken place. More information on the MESS project and the LISS panel can be found at www.lissdata.nl 
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