Data Reuse, Open Science and the Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty

The session welcomes empirical papers reusing survey, qualitative, mixed-methods, longitudinal, administrative, aggregated or historical datasets, as well as methodological and conceptual papers on FAIR data, data citation, metadata, trust, data gaps, comparability, ethics, sensitive data and responsible reuse.

Contemporary societies face overlapping uncertainties: climate change, public health crises, war, migration, technological disruption, democratic instability and socio-economic insecurity. The sociology of risk and uncertainty has developed rich conceptual tools to analyse how risks are perceived, constructed, governed, communicated and contested. Yet the field also depends on the availability of robust empirical data that can be reused across cases, countries, crises and time.

This session invites papers that explore the role of data reuse, open science and trusted research data infrastructures in advancing sociological studies of risk and uncertainty. We are particularly interested in contributions that use, compare, curate or critically reflect on secondary data available through trusted repositories, data archives and research infrastructures, including but not limited to CESSDA Service Providers and the CESSDA Data Catalogue.

By bringing together risk scholars, open data experts and researchers working with reused data, the session aims to show how open and well-curated data can strengthen cumulative, comparative and socially relevant knowledge in turbulent times.