The LISS panel is the core element of a project entitled Measurement and Experimentation in the Social Sciences (MESS). In 2006, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded a grant to the research institute CentERdata for this project.
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.
The MESS project entails both an optimal infrastructure for empirical research in the social sciences and the financial resources to carry out this research. The project is strongly geared to integrating different academic disciplines and developing and testing new, innovative research techniques. From October 2010 up until December 2014, the MESS project included an Immigrant panel in addition to the regular LISS panel.