News » Genealogy for science, GEDCOMs for Utrecht University

Various scientific studies are taking place that are relevant to genealogy. But family tree researchers can also contribute to scientific research. Through the Genealogy for Science programme, Genealogy Online wants to encourage its users to 'donate' their GEDCOM files to scientific organisations. Utrecht University is the first!

Coret Genealogie (Genealogy Online) and Utrecht University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (PDF) that lays down conditions for the reuse of the genealogical data. For example, Genealogy Online will actively ask its users to make their genealogical data 'available to science'. Genealogy Online makes the GEDCOM files of users who have given explicit permission for this available to the researchers. The researchers may only use the files for scientific research; they may not publish individual data or distribute the files further.

The research team at Utrecht University (Department of History and Art History) is headed by Prof. Dr. Tine de Moor. The research for which they want to collect the genealogical data mainly concerns the following lines of research:

1. the marriage pattern and the composition of households in North-West Europe
2. the difference in life expectancy between North-West Europe and, for example, Southern Europe, and the possible causes of this difference.

The page Sharing genealogical data with science further explains what the cooperation between Genealogy Online and scientific organisations entails and how family tree researchers can say Yes! to the use of their GEDCOM for scientific research.

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