The UK Data Service has published its Annual Report 2025–26, Beyond 10,000: Shaping the future of research data.
The report reflects a significant year for the Service, including the growth of the collection beyond 10,000 datasets and the launch of a new data catalogue. It brings together progress made across data infrastructure, access, curation, skills, partnerships and future-facing developments across the research data landscape.
10,000 datasets: a national resource in action
This year marked an important milestone, with more than 10,000 data collections now discoverable through the UK Data Service catalogue. These collections represent decades of research, collaboration and investment in economic, population and social data.
The report looks at how this national resource has developed over time, the breadth of data it now contains, and the work behind the scenes to keep data accessible, secure and meaningful for future research.
The new data catalogue: building for the next 10,000
A major development this year was the launch of the new UK Data Service data catalogue.
Designed around user feedback, the catalogue offers clearer navigation, improved search and filtering, the ability to browse by theme, variable search where available, and machine-actionable access to metadata. The result is a more modern and user-focused gateway to the Service’s growing collection.
Annual statistics
The report also highlights key figures from the year, including:
- 54,840 registered users
- 716 new datasets
- 121 training events
- 4,972 attendees at training
- 178,423 views of the online Learning Hub
- 37,321 page views of the Data Impact blog.
Looking ahead
The report looks to the next phase of the Service’s development, including work aligned with the ESRC’s Future Data Services agenda and new international collaborations focused on FAIR data, AI readiness, machine-actionable metadata and cross-domain interoperability.
A digital-first report
This year’s Annual Report has been produced in a new landscape format, designed for online reading. Interactive links throughout the report make it easier to navigate between sections and access related resources on the UK Data Service website.
Read the UK Data Service Annual Report 2025–26.
More information
- To share feedback, email Deepti Kulkarni at comms@ukdataservice.ac.uk
- View our past Annual Reports.