News

An update of our latest data releases. The following new datasets have been released: SN 9366 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People, 2023 SN 9364 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 2023 SN 9363 British Social Attitudes Survey, 2023 SN 857176 The Mental Health of Children and Young People Growing Up in State Care in […]

We are delighted to announce the successful completion of the “Balancing the data scales: A cost-benefit analysis of low-fidelity synthetic data for data owners and providers” project. This year-long initiative examined the costs and benefits of synthetic data for data owners and Trusted Research Environments (TREs). The project was strategically important for understanding how to […]

Accredited Researcher Status under the Digital Economy Act 2017 allows researchers to access certain types of secure data. Until recently, the process for acquiring this status was to use the Research Accreditation Service (RAS) provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This process has now changed. On 4 April 2025, the ONS closed the […]

The UK Data Service is pleased to announce the successful delivery of the Population Research UK – Skills Development for Managing Longitudinal Data for Sharing project. This initiative aimed to build capacity in data management within the Longitudinal Population Studies (LPS) community. The project, a foundational initiative of the Population Research UK (PRUK) programme, was supported by […]

We’re delighted to announce that the UK Data Service has been nominated as a finalist in the Not-For-Profit of the Year category at the British Data Awards 2025! Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Brewery in London on 14 May. This nomination reflects the invaluable contributions made by everyone across the Service […]

An update of our latest data releases. The following new datasets have been released: SN 9360 Farm Business Survey, 2023-2024: Special Licence Access SN 9338 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence: Ethiopia Round 3, 2021-2022 SN 9361 Young People and Gambling Survey, 2024 SN 9261 Interviews with Displaced Women and Men in Four Countries, 2021-2022: Afghanistan, […]

An update of our latest data releases. The following new datasets have been released: SN 9351 Participation Survey, 2023-2024: Open Access SN 9339 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence: Bangladesh Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet Community Surveys, 2018 SN 9350 Participation Survey, 2023-2024 SN 9340 Scottish Islands Survey, 2023 SN 9345 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence: Jordan […]

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is an ambitious European initiative that aims to give the EU a global lead in research data management and ensure that European scientists enjoy the full benefits of data-driven science. Two new EU-funded projects, EOSC EDEN and FIDELIS, started on 1 January 2025, bringing over 30 European and international […]

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 […]

International Women’s Day 2025 is dedicated to “accelerating action” to create a gender equal world. But what role can the UK Data Service – and data generally – play in accelerating women’s equality? Empowering researchers and policymakers We asked Joanne Webb, Associate Director of the UK Data Service and Head of Department for the UK […]

Dr Steve McEachern recently attended the International Science Council General Assembly and Global Knowledge Dialogue to discuss how the social sciences sector can work together more closely to overcome some of its biggest hurdles. During his presentation at the event, held in Muscat, Oman, he covered a number of key areas that need further development […]

A tech-savvy generation of children are said to be subverting traditional hierarchies as they take control of elements of home life using smart technology. They might order takeaways through voice assistants like Alexa, get around parental controls, or switch off location tracking on their devices. Individual families will all have different stories to tell about […]