VERIAN GROUP BELGIUM SA

Their core work

Verian Group Belgium (formerly TNS Opinion, later Kantar Public) is a major European survey and public opinion research firm headquartered in Brussels. They specialize in designing and conducting large-scale public opinion surveys, social attitude polling, and policy-relevant quantitative research across EU member states. In H2020 projects, they contribute survey methodology, fieldwork execution, and data analysis on topics ranging from migration attitudes to tobacco regulation and radicalization. Their role is to provide the empirical evidence base — representative population data — that research consortia need to understand European citizens' views on contested policy issues.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Verian Group's H2020 participation is concentrated in a narrow window (2015–2017 project starts), making long-term evolution difficult to track. Their earlier projects (EUENGAGE, EUREST-PLUS) focused on broad EU governance and health regulation, while later entries (REMINDER, IMAJINE, PRACTICIES from 2017) shifted toward migration, inequality, and security — reflecting the post-2015 migration crisis and growing European concern with social cohesion. This shift suggests the organization's survey capabilities were increasingly sought for politically sensitive and socially contested topics.

Their trajectory toward politically sensitive social research (migration, radicalization, territorial inequality) suggests future demand for their survey capabilities in projects addressing democratic resilience, social cohesion, and inclusive governance.

How they like to work

Verian Group exclusively participates as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a specialized service provider within larger research consortia. With 73 unique partners across 19 countries in just 5 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia (averaging ~15 partners per project) and rarely repeat partnerships, indicating they are a sought-after polling partner brought in for their specific methodological capability. Working with them means engaging a professional survey firm that delivers data collection and analysis as a well-defined work package.

Broad European network spanning 73 unique partners across 19 countries, reflecting participation in large Social Sciences and Humanities consortia. Their Brussels base and EU-wide survey infrastructure make them a natural partner for pan-European research projects.

What sets them apart

Verian Group (formerly TNS Opinion/Kantar Public) brings professional-grade, multi-country survey infrastructure that most academic partners simply cannot replicate. They are one of the few private firms that can execute representative population surveys across dozens of EU countries simultaneously — a capability essential for any project that needs comparable cross-national public opinion data. For consortium builders, they solve the "fieldwork problem": getting statistically robust data from real citizens, not just desk research.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EUREST-PLUS
  Largest budget allocation (EUR 843K) — tobacco regulatory science required extensive cross-national health behavior surveys, representing their most resource-intensive H2020 engagement.
• REMINDER
  Directly aligned with their core strength in migration attitude research, examining how narratives about EU mobility shape public discourse and policy reform.
• EUENGAGE
  Second-largest budget (EUR 729K) — focused on the democratic gap between citizens and EU institutions, a flagship topic for a firm known for Eurobarometer-type research.