The UK Data Service is funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) "to meet the data needs of researchers, students and teachers from all [U.K.] sectors, including academia, central and local government, charities and foundations, independent research centres, think tanks, and business consultants and the commercial sector."
Overview
Website
Type of Organization
Provider Role(s)
Details
Parent Organization
Economic & Social Research Council
Year established
2012
Still in Operation
Yes
Main Address
Wivenhoe Park
University of Essex
Colchester, Essex
CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom
Subject Areas
CRL Analysis & Profile
Mission Statement
"Our primary aim is to provide users with seamless and flexible access to a wide range of data resources to facilitate high quality social and economic research and education. All of our activities stem from this aim." - https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/about-us/purpose (accessed 2018).
History
The UK Data Service was established by the Economic and Social Research Council(ESRC) in October 2012. In October 2013, the UK Data Service received additional funding to coordinate the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN), designed to streamline research access to data routinely collected by UK government departments and other agencies.
Financial Information
In addition to ESRC funding, the UK Data Service also receives financial support from "host organisations". Seveal UK universities provide in-kind support in the form of providing staff time and expertise, and gathering,,curation and hosting of data.
Governance: Board / Owners / Parent organization
The UK Data Service is based at the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex and delivered by host organizations at universities across the UK, including: Jisc and the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research at the University of Manchester; School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton, EDINA, at the University of Edinburgh, and two departments at University College London: Department of Information Studies and Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis.
The UK Data Service operates under the auspices of the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC).
Technical Information
The UK Data Service is based around a functional model, which in turn is based on the Open Archival Information System or OAIS (an ISO standard). This means that the UK Data Service works with standards for archiving digital materials.
Access
Access to the data catalogue, documentation and guides are available free of charge. Registration may be required to download data, and its use subject to licensing requirements specified by data owners. Most data are available under a standard End User Licence, but data are available along a spectrum ranging from 'open' to 'secure'.