The UK Data Service Dissertation Award 2025 has now launched! Whether you’re wondering who can apply, how to submit your work or who our judges are, we’ve compiled some useful FAQs:
Who can enter?
Any undergraduate students at UK universities who are writing dissertations on social science topics who have used data from the UK Data Service data catalogue, either for the entire analysis or part of it. It must also be submitted in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Three winners will be selected and each winning entry will receive a £300 award and publicity via the UK Data Service website, blog and newsletter.
Who are the judges?
The judging panel is made up of data experts from the UK Data Service and senior academic staff. This year’s judges are Alex Bryson, Professor of Quantitative Social Science at UCL’s Social Research Institute, Paula Surridge, Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol and Dr Jen Buckley from the UK Data Service User Support and Training team.
How to enter?
Entries for 2025 are now closed and our winners have been chosen.
When is the deadline?
The deadline for submissions has now passed.
What topics have entries covered in the past?
Entries to the award have covered a wide range of social science topics, such as:
- Trust in the police and reporting of crime
- The impact of free school meals on household spending
- Energy pricing and fuel poverty
- An investigation into the 15 minute city concept
- Diabetes, ageing and eye problems
- the impact of the introduction of the National Living Wage on employment
- Electoral performance
- European social work environments
- Food environment and obesity
- Preconception supplement use in Scotland
- The impact of family formation events on later life-health
- Investigating changes in transitions to adulthood
- The impact of class on perceptions of environmental crises
Where can I find dissertation resources?
See the students section in our Learning Hub for information and resources for dissertation students.