Welcome
Welcome to our July Newsletter.
We are pleased to have been awarded funding recently from Horizon Europe to work on two new projects, which will make it easier for researchers to find, access and integrate data from multiple repositories.
A wide variety of partners have been awarded €15 million to work on the projects together. These partners include CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) and CODATA (the Committee on Data of the International Science Council).
We will receive over €1.5 million from this funding to develop a set of new AI-augmented tools and services for researchers to use. The results of this project will also be of significant long-term benefit to our current users.
AI was a hot topic too at CESSDA’s 50th Anniversary held in Bergen during June. Key experts from our team provided insightful presentations on how partners from around the world can use AI and technology to work even more effectively together in the future.
Our Health Studies User Conference was also successful, with several prominent speakers providing important data updates. For example, Katie Ridout from the National Centre for Social Research gave a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in the Health Survey for England (HSE).
Additionally, the UK Data Service has taken the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI) Pledge, reflecting our commitment to responsible, transparent, and trustworthy data research and statistics.
Finally, the UK Data Service has been listed as a key resource for government evaluators in the latest version of the UK Government’s Magenta Book. Published by HM Treasury, the Magenta Book is the central guidance document on how to evaluate policies, programmes and projects.
I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and I look forward to catching up with many of you at other important events over the next few months.
Regards,
Steve McEachern,
Director, UK Data Service.
To get in touch please email: comms@ukdataservice.ac.uk.
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Search our data catalogue for further information about the datasets in our collection.
Users can also filter our online news stories to find the latest datasets and editions added to the data catalogue.
Additionally, you can follow us on Bluesky and LinkedIn to keep up-to-date on when the latest datasets are released.
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The funding will cover two new projects worth over €15 million, which have been awarded to a wide range of partners across Europe, including CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives).
The UK Data Service will receive just over €1.5 million from this award to work on the two projects, which will involve the development of new AI-augmented tools and services that will make it easier for researchers to integrate datasets between different repositories and across multiple countries.
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CESSDA's 50th Anniversary event was a huge success, with the UK Data Service staff at the centre of leading key conversations with other data leaders from around the world on how new ideas, technology, AI and other systems can be applied collectively to improve the quality of Social Science data accessed from researchers in the future.
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Save the date
UK census data drop-in
22 July (online)
This free online drop-in is for anyone working, or thinking of working, with UK census data from the UK Data Service. If you are looking for help and advice with your project or research, join us on 22 July.
SecureLab drop-in sessions
23 July, 25 August and 22 September (online)
As detailed in our recent newsletter, we have a monthly drop-in session for SecureLab users who have any queries regarding aspects of SecureLab use. We run four fifteen minute sessions on Zoom over the course of an hour.
Safe Researcher Training
24 July, 12 August and 1 September (online)
This Safe Researcher Training (SRT) course is intended for researchers who will be, or are in the process of, applying for access to controlled data in the UK Data Service SecureLab.
Code anxiety club
4 August (online)
Feeling overwhelmed by the command line? Confused by file pathways? Want to navigate the world of coding with confidence? Join the Code Anxiety Club! |
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The UK Data Service has been listed as a key resource for government evaluators in the latest version of the UK Government’s Magenta Book. Published by HM Treasury, the Magenta Book is the central guidance document on how to evaluate policies, programmes and projects.
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On 25 June, we held our latest Health Studies User Conference in collaboration with UCL and the National Centre for Social Research. The conference brought together data producers and data users to share updates on key health-related surveys and showcase research using data from these surveys.
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The International Association for Social Science Information Services and Technology (IASSIST) conference is always a highlight of our year. This year’s conference, held online, proved to be no exception, with eleven presentations featuring UK Data Service staff being delivered across the four days.
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We are committed to responsible, transparent and trustworthy data research and statistics. In this regard, we are pleased to have taken the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI) pledge.
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We are pleased to share that recordings and slides from our Early Career Researchers’ event, Perspectives on Engagement and Impact are now available on our website.
Sessions provided insights into navigating policy and practice context, communicating research beyond academia and identifying pathways to impact. Through discussions, talks and workshops, participants explored how to engage stakeholders more effectively and left better equipped—and more confident—in communicating their work.
Rhiannon Williams, one of our lightning keynote speakers, has since revisited some of these themes on the Data Impact blog, highlighting practical routes for generating impact within the healthcare sector.
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Recent posts reflect the wide-ranging ways the UK Data Service supports research, policy engagement and real-world impact.
Data making a difference
The impact team has explored how research is informing key policy debates—from work on child poverty and the implications of removing the two-child limit, to the evidence base underpinning reforms to renters’ rights.
Beyond the Service, the Royal British Legion shared how their analysis of the British Social Attitudes Survey is informing the Armed Forces Bill, whilst the Centre for Research in Social Policy outlined how robust data is supporting Marie Curie’s Dying in Poverty Campaign.
Strengthening research design and infrastructure
Contributions from UK Data Service staff highlight the engineering and technical expertise that ensures we continue to provide reliable access to data.
Alongside this, contributors including Raysa Rocha, Nicole Renehan and Hannah Manzur examine how research design and data collection practices can better reflect the diversity of people and their experiences.
Their work highlights the importance of supporting neurodivergent participants and researchers, developing more inclusive approaches to complex social issues such as domestic abuse, and evaluating how ethnicity is represented in UK datasets.
New research using UK Data Service datasets
Recent posts also showcase new and emerging research that has used data accessed through the UK Data Service, demonstrating the breadth of questions that can be explored through these resources.
Using Understanding Society, researchers explored how gender role attitudes shape household dynamics, as well as the relationship between food insecurity and mental health.
Drawing on the Millennium Cohort Study, Katherine Collier examined how socioeconomic factors impact childhood literacy, whilst Georgia Cronshaw used the same dataset to evaluate whether neighbourhood environments affect developmental outcomes.
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Local communities in data
Our new Local communities in data theme explores how UK Data Service infrastructure can help us understand the lived experiences of communities across the UK.
From how people connect and participate in community life to the ways places are shaped and experienced, it highlights how data can support more nuanced, locally informed approaches to community challenges.
In an accompanying post on the Data Impact blog, Eve Little explored how the three key elements of this theme - place, people and safety - closely connect with government initiatives, including the Pride in Place programme and the Safer Streets Mission.
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Media watch: The UK Data Service in the news
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from bbc.co.uk - 5 July 2026
"Figures show private sector rents in the North East are rising faster than the national average."
This article references data which is available in the UK Data Service collection: Office for National Statistics
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from wigantoday.net - 24 May 2026
"Reports of crime in Wigan rose between September to December last year, new figures show."
This article references data which is available in the UK Data Service collection: Crime Survey for England
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from politicshome.com - 5 June 2026
"If we want to improve people’s health outcomes, prevention must move “from aspiration to delivery”, says new University of Manchester report."
This article references data which is available in the UK Data Service collection: Health Survey for England
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from oxfordmail.co.uk - 25 May 2026
"Almost a third of private school bursaries and scholarship funds go to the richest families but those children receive the smallest grants on average, according to a study."
This article references data which is available in the UK Data Service collection: Family Resources Survey
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We would like to know when you successfully publish research informed by data you have accessed via the Service. Contact our Impact team if you are interested in contributing to the Data Impact blog or working with us to develop an impact case study.
For regular updates on new blogs, case studies and news stories, subscribe to our UK Data Service JiscMail. (You need a Jisc Mail account to do this).
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