A week on: reflecting on the ADR UK Conference 2025
Categories: Conferences, ADR England, ADR Northern Ireland, ADR Scotland, ADR Wales, YDG Cymru, ADR UK Partnership
25 September 2025
This year’s ADR UK Conference 2025 felt like a milestone. From the packed pre-conference programme through to the final keynote, there was a real sense of momentum: administrative data research has matured, but its potential is still only beginning to be realised.
Building energy before the main event
Two dynamic pre-conference activities set the tone. The Datathon, hosted by ADR Wales and Datacise Open Learning, saw multidisciplinary teams use synthetic data from SAIL Databank to explore children’s mental health and the educational attainment of cared for children.
What struck me was both the scientific rigour and innovative use of coding that all the teams were able to bring to their projects – that were all designed to answer a real policy question – even when working with synthetic data.
Alongside this, workshops on everything from policy impact to metadata created a strong sense of connection before the main event had even begun. By the time the conference officially opened, it already felt like a community primed for collaboration.
Learning from international leadership
Day one featured international thought leaders pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with administrative data. Tom Emery, Executive Director of ODISSEI, introduced the Dutch model of an architecture built on persistent identifiers, federated infrastructures, strong computational capacity, and the integration of survey with administrative data. The scale and coherence of this system is inspiring, yet Tom also reminded us that history also shows how data can be abused - most chillingly in the Netherlands during the Holocaust. When it comes to the use of administrative data, safeguards and a focus on the public good are non-negotiable.
Helena Benes Matos da Silva’s work at Cidacs in Brazil offered another striking example. The “100 Million Brazilians” and birth cohort studies show how integrating social, health and environmental data can capture harder-to-reach populations, generate evidence for policy, and highlight health inequalities across groups. This work demonstrates administrative data at its most powerful: revealing inequities and informing action, whether in addressing long-term disparities or responding to health emergencies like Zika virus.
Federating for the future
We also heard from DARE UK (Data and Analytics Research Environments UK)’s Professor Emily Jefferson and Fergus McDonald, who explored the evolving landscape of trusted research environments (TREs). The UK is already leading internationally, with DARE UK’s work influencing European approaches. However, TREs don’t always meet researchers’ needs, especially as demand grows for AI training on sensitive data.
Their vision is a future where TREs can work seamlessly together: a “mesh” environment where algorithms, not data, move securely across systems. Balancing usability with safeguards is no small task, yet it’s a vital step if we want to harness public sector data safely and at scale.
A ministerial challenge: Be bold
Day two opened with a ministerial address from Rt. Hon Mark Drakeford MS, who spoke of a “growing shift” across governments in recognising the importance of linking data with research, and the need to put that research to work in policymaking. He also welcomed the latest news that ADR Wales has secured £26 million to continue its ground-breaking work using administrative data to inform policy and improve lives.
Most striking was his call for boldness. Reflecting on his own career, he admitted wishing he had been bolder, and urged delegates to take that step now. Administrative data, he argued, is “on the cusp of an exciting new era” – so let’s not hold back.
Improving justice system outcomes
The conference closed with a keynote from Dr Nisha da Silva from the Ministry of Justice, whose talk on Data First and the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme brought the themes of the two days into sharp focus. Her “John” story – tracing one person’s journey through education, family courts, prison, probation and beyond – was a vivid reminder that these datasets represent real lives.
Large-scale linkage is now providing insights never before possible, from pathways through the courts to patterns of reoffending. Tools like the Splink data linkage tool, downloaded more than 12 million times, are symbols of transparency in addition to technical progress. Most importantly, the outputs from Data First and BOLD are already shaping practice, from tackling ethnic inequalities in sentencing to helping local authorities better support children of prisoners.
Closing thoughts: the ADR Conference 2025
Beyond the keynotes, the conference was alive with poster sessions, exhibitor stalls, a record number of parallel sessions, as well as chance conversations over Welsh teacakes and traditional twmpath dancing at the evening reception. Celebrating award winners was a highlight, recognising the outstanding contributions of researchers and teams showing the real-world impact of administrative data.
I came away both hopeful and challenged. Hopeful because the scale, innovation and energy are real and growing. Challenged because the next steps require sustained effort across the UK and internationally: bridging insight and change, maintaining trust alongside speed and scale, and ensuring policies reflect what the data is showing, especially for those furthest behind.
Thank you to colleagues in ADR Wales who led on the conference delivery, and a thank you too to all those who contributed, took part and who work with us ongoing. Together we are proving what’s possible when administrative data is used for the public good.
