GESIS is the largest European infrastructure institute for the social sciences. It has more than 300 employees at two locations: Mannheim and Cologne. GESIS provides essential and internationally relevant research-based services for the social sciences which includes various academic training programs. GESIS is comprised of five main departments including the Computational Social Science (CSS) department and Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS) department.

GESIS preserves quantitative social research data to make it available to the scientific community. All data are preserved for the long-term and undergo additional enhancement with extensive processing and documentation undertaken to international standards. GESIS is involved in large–scale social surveys (e.g. ALLBUS, Eurobarometer, EVS, ISSP, Politbarometer). GESIS involved in data training to promote data management and curating for research community and digital preservation. The consulting on research methodology center help researchers by obtaining the best data quality. Each ESR has his or her own office desk and computer, equipped with the necessary software.