A good read by @parkali.bsky.social. In today’s AI-driven world, data is the new currency. Great to see #ESRC investing not just in infrastructure, but also in services and training to empower researchers. #UK #AI #DataInfrastructure #UKDS #ResearchSky #AcademicSky

A blog from me on why social science infrastructures matter. I talk about the value of social science data collections & data services (especially @ukdsimpact.bsky.social), current opportunities and challenges (including AI, the growth of TREs & training), & what we're doing about them at ESRC.

Absolutely delighted that ESRC and UKRI are funding this new study - and great to hear one of its leads, Pasco Fearon, discussing its value just now on BBCR4 Today. Also led by @clscohorts.bsky.social.

One for anyone with an interest in the research potential of administrative data! The 2025 @adr-uk.bsky.social conference will be in Cardiff on 17-18 September. Full details including keynote speakers & the ministerial address by Rt. Hon Mark Drakeford MS (Member of Senedd) in the thread below.

One for anyone with an interest in the research potential of administrative data! The 2025 @adr-uk.bsky.social conference will be in Cardiff on 17-18 September. Full details including keynote speakers & the ministerial address by Rt. Hon Mark Drakeford MS (Member of Senedd) in the thread below.

🌳 Nature remembers. 🌿 Happy to share our new paper showing that where species live today isn't just about where habitats are - it's also about what happened there before. 🕰️ rdcu.be/eiVZE @watts-km.bsky.social @stir.ac.uk @tfinch.bsky.social @forestresearchuk.bsky.social

How to embed green industrial policy in a UK growth strategy buff.ly/47AOf9P My new piece for @IPPR volume with @asvalero @poid_lse @cep_lse

Such a great choice for the new head of Innovate UK! Tom is an inspiring leader and a tech hero. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Astonishing fact on #bbcr4today earlier, discussing the Heathrow power failure. Heathrow requires 41MW; a new data centre nearby needs 150MW. Stark illustration of the underpinning energy consequences of data storage.

Yes!!! Not enough focus on the DATA. How many disciplines/sectors have accessible datasets, alone or even integrated, at sufficient scale and quality to successfully apply these emergent, data-driven technologies?

Great lecture by @hetanshah.bsky.social today on #AI. A key message: AI depends on data (quality, coverage, access, linkage) but not enough focus upon it; “data is the unsexy cousin of AI”. Vital we keep focused on AI AND data, and on ensuring the public have a voice within discussions about both.

really happy the National Data Library submission I worked on with @dgen.net has been selected

We just published a paper on what the new NATIONAL DATA LIBRARY should look like. It's very readable! Lots on: accountability.. federated analytics.. code.. modular tools.. Thanks to @wellcometrust and @ESRC who ran a competition for these papers! zenodo.org/records/1467...

ESRC recently collaborated with Wellcome on the UK National Data Library Technical White Paper Challenge. Five submissions were successful and have now been published - do take a look: wellcome.org/what-we-do/o...

Lovely article about me, my new book, and my home in today’s FT Weekend on.ft.com/3PtDGxU

In case you missed it - cohort studies got a mention on Call the Midwife last Sunday (specifically the 1970 Birth Cohort Study)! A bit cheesy I know, but good to see these essential data resources, & the unique insight they make possible, get the attention they deserve. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

New PhD position on my UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project on political polarization: fully funded + ~20k tax free yearly stipend. Deadline: Feb 14th! Link to apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLI246/p...

What would it look like to reimagine #arts and #humanities as a vital and creative force for change at the heart of #science? For 25 years, the Arts and Humanities Research Council has supported the transformation of our understanding of ourselves through research...

It's ESRC's 60th birthday in 2025 - keep an eye out for how we are planning to celebrate! In the meantime, if you're interested in how our history connects to our current strategic thinking take a look at @stianwestlake.bsky.social's blog below.

“These models can see patterns humans cannot, but not all patterns they identify are meaningful or reliable” … AI not immune to the correlation and causation challenge.

Interesting @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social FT Data Points today - does the apparent rise in the UK’s illness-related activity say as much about incentives in the benefit system as the nation’s health? Good to see (ESRC funded!) Understanding Society - UKHLS - as a key data source.

Delighted the ECHILD team, funded by ADR UK, has been awarded the ONS Research Excellence Award 2024 in the category of Secure Data Creation. ECHILD is a pioneering linked data resource that integrates administrative data across sectors from health & education. Find out more - www.echild.ac.uk

NEW: Why do we always think crime is rising, even when it isn’t? This week I looked at one of the big data mysteries. Britain is 2/3 less violent than the 1990s; thefts were higher pre-lockdown Why, then, doesn’t it feel like it? 1/8 @thetimes.com 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/b63d...

Good article about many challenges in collecting accurate employment data - & importance of improving access to other sources (eg private sector & admin data). Good too to see some of the hidden challenges acknowledged - inc losing data savvy staff to tech firms. londonherald.co.uk/fuzzy-job-nu...

UKRI is recruiting a Director to lead work on R&D and Place. A great opportunity for an action-oriented leader who wants to tackle the many well-documented issues of the geography of R&D in the UK! careersportal.taleo.net/careersectio...

Fantastic night last night at the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize awards. There was a particularly strong legal and justice theme this year with winners including ... 1/3 More details: www.ukri.org/news/esrc-an...

We won the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize for Outstanding Public Policy Impact last night. An inspiring evening, learning about projects making profound differences, highlighting the power of research (see: Yvonne McDermott Rees; @richardmoorhead.bsky.social; and many more)

Congratulations to @richardmoorhead.bsky.social & the postofficeproject team for being worthy winners of the ESRC societal impact prize. Particularly struck by Lord Arbuthnot's comment towards the end of the video about the "forensic, humane, academic brilliance" of the work - high praise indeed.

On a packed train to Oxford and everyone seems to be staying on for Moreton in the Marsh? I remember Moreton being a sleepy little town, what changed?!

The UK government has ambitious plans for a National Data Library, and a lot of the important technical choices remain to be made. Together with Wellcome, ESRC is running a Technical White Paper challenge to invite proposals for how to make it work best - more below! wellcome.org/what-we-do/o...

‘The country is in a state but my patch is actually (relatively) grand’ is a phenomenon in public opinion not unique to the US. Here it is in the context of attitudes to public services and spaces in England. From work with @lawrencemckay.bsky.social, @psurridge.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social

Delighted to see HM Treasury has published its Areas of Research Interest - which set out their key questions within the following areas - growth, labour market, financial sector, international, fiscal policy, tax, and public spending/services.

Really recommend this - astute observations and some very interesting research questions.

So do you want to run the Resolution Foundation, NIESR or the IFS? Lots of great jobs to run economics think tanks as Paul Johnson moves to Queen's College Oxford. I personally hope we will see some great women head up these think tanks in their next phases ifs.org.uk/news/ifs-dir...

With the National Police Chiefs’ Council, UKRI is funding 9 Policing Academic Centres of Excellence to improve connections between researchers & research users in policing & help research users identify the best research evidence, science, technologies & postgraduate training. See: orlo.uk/1O9u8

New £11.5m call to develop & administer a global evidence synthesis infrastructure to provide policymakers with access to accurate, up-to-date, & accessible syntheses of existing scientific evidence in key policy areas. Background & more helpfully set out here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New £11.5m call to develop & administer a global evidence synthesis infrastructure to provide policymakers with access to accurate, up-to-date, & accessible syntheses of existing scientific evidence in key policy areas. Background & more helpfully set out here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Great illustration at the start of this about the difference between sample size & representivity (in relation to stats about millionaires in the UK) podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

I’m one of the “seasoned experts” on the New Towns task force - it’s an exciting but also daunting challenge www.gov.uk/government/n...

This year’s finalists for ESRC’s Celebrating Impact Prize were announced today. All very impressive examples of how excellent social science can make a genuine difference to the world. www.ukri.org/who-we-are/h...

The @britishelectionstudy.com team is celebrating the study's 60th anniversary today - 6 decades on from the 1st British Election Survey in 1964 & all the insight that has resulted since. V proud of the role that ESRC has played in supporting the study & research over those decades.

Undertaking postdoctoral Humanities and/or Social Science research from a UK base? New round of British Academy Small Research Grants (up to £10,000 over 24 months) has opened. Deadline 6 November 2024, 17:00 GMT.

Civil Service Data Challenge 2024 finalists selected moderncivilservice.blog.gov.uk/2024/09/04/c... (UK) The winner "will receive £50,000-worth of support from NTT DATA to further develop their idea, as well as the endorsement by senior leadership within the Civil Service." *looks to camera*

The UK Statistics Authority response to the Lievesley review was published today. They commit to stronger user engagement through a new UK Statistics Assembly, continued pushing on data sharing in government, and a forthcoming MoU with Eurostat uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/...

Blog by my boss, Stian Westlake (Executive Chair of ESRC but writing in his own capacity) setting out his thoughts on research & innovation capacity to deliver Government missions, with a particular focus on the role of social science & the importance of better data. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Excellent essay - "Harder, better, faster, stronger - will AI improve public policymaking?". Delighted to see proper recognition of the centrality of data - "any AI tool is only as good as its data, and novel forms of AI are still haunted by old data problems". 👋👋

Administrative Data Research’s (ADR) Annual Report published today, illustrating the progress they have made in generating data-driven insights that help drive improvements in policy & practice, & tackle pressing global challenges. reports.adruk.org/annual-repor...

Good blog by Emma Gordon, ADR UK, about the Labour manifesto pledge to create a National Data Library and what needs to happen next. Great to see recognition of the value of linked data, but vital to build on existing successes - we do not need to start from scratch here. t.co/7HYMta50Hv

Good piece from Geoff Mulgan on the importance of diffusion and take up in R&D / technology policy. It can be a blindspot in traditional economic theory and a bit grubby for policymakers. But we won’t get better productivity without it! www.geoffmulgan.com/post/not-jus...

 “What’s the point of having UKRI if it isn’t about bringing things together and getting some of that cross-fertilization?" Patrick Vallance And that's what we do... www.ukri.org/news/first-p... All credit to @kirstygrainger.bsky.social and Alison Park...