FORTE EpiDem - interdisciplinary network for methodological issues in register-based research

Register-based research should more often than today be conducted in an interdisciplinary manner, because issues that concern several key aspects of people´s lives are studied, such as living conditions, working life, health and medical care.

Such research contributes significantly to both science and society by highlighting relationships that are difficult, costly or impossible to study with other approaches.

Knowledge on data sources and adequate scientific methods are needed, for example regarding study design, novel approaches and statistical methods. Such knowledge is general and independent of the scope of the research. Register-based research can therefore benefit substantially from sharing knowledge and experience across disciplines.

The overarching objective of the interdisciplinary FORTE EpiDem network is to strengthen and develop register-based research in Sweden further, partly through increased knowledge and shared experience on data sources, ethics, law and appropriate scientific approaches, and partly by creating new long-term collaborations between researchers and research groups using registers in different disciplines.

The network is aimed broadly at researchers who conduct population studies using registers, for example in epidemiology, demography, sociology or economics, and who are interested in methodological issues.

Of particular importance is that younger researchers through the network´s activities will be given the opportunity to establish new contacts, share experiences and form new collaborations outside their own discipline and university. The new collaborations that the network strives to create can be both within research and in education.

The network will during 2025-2027 organize three national meetings on current and emerging topics in register-based research and three specific doctoral meetings where the participants can present on-going work and get feedback. The network experiences will be summarized in 1-2 scientific articles.