What is the meaning of "In what is, to our knowledge, ..." [closed]

I would like to know the meaning of "In what is, to our knowledge,". Thse words are in an academic paper. Google translate says "As far as we know," but I cannot understand the part of "In what is" especially. Could you explain this, please? The whole of sentence is

In what is, to our knowledge, the largest quantified study on the allowance of social touch on bodily regions, we reveal that interpersonal emotional bonds are associated with spatial patterns for social touch in a culturally universal manner across a broad range of European countries with varying cultural conventions."

Solution 1:

The commas that are before and after the words "to our knowledge" are meant to separate that part of the sentence from the rest. You should be able to remove the words between the commas (and remove the commas) and the sentence should still make sense.

"to our knowledge" can be re-stated "as far as we know". So the author of the paper could have written "In what is, as far as we know,..." and it would have the same meaning.

The words "In what is" will refer to something in the sentence that comes after the words "to our knowledge". The words "In what is" do not mean "as far as we know".

Solution 2:

Having now read the full sentence, I can state that the sense is as follows:

What refers to the study that the authors have done. They mention in passing that, as far as they know, it is the largest quantified study that has ever been done on the subject.