ADR UK 2018-19: Reflections on our first year
Categories: Reports, ADR UK Partnership
4 September 2019
ADR UK has today (4 September 2019) published its 2018-19 Annual Report, reflecting on our first year of operation since the start of our current funding period in July last year. In the past year we have established ourselves in the realm of administrative data research, seeing several key milestones and achievements along the way. Laying critical foundations for the years ahead, we are confident that we are on track to achieve our objective of harnessing the potential of linked administrative data for research.
Hard work linking and curating administrative datasets has been ongoing throughout the year, with a number of new partnerships formed to facilitate the linkage and sharing of data between government and researchers. First wave analysis is underway for several important new datasets, including the Census and educational attainment linked dataset in partnership with the Department for Education. This dataset will allow researchers to link children to their households to investigate which family circumstances lead to which outcomes, and where services could work better to support all children to thrive.
In June, the Research Commissioning Board (RCB) was established to direct the commissioning of new research in the public interest using data linked and curated by ADR UK. The first round of Strategic Hub-funded research and infrastructure projects is now underway, with the second round of applications coming in October 2019.
In the past year we have attended events across the UK to raise awareness for our work and promote potential collaboration with researchers, data owners and policymakers, and our website was launched at the end of July, providing a focal information hub for the partnership and the work we do across the country.
Looking ahead, there is plenty more exciting activity in the pipeline. By the end of the year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will have sourced data from a number of key sources, including UCAS undergraduate data, National Energy Efficiency Data (NEED), Welsh 2011 Census data to enable linkage to other datasets held in the SAIL Databank, and an updated version of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). Data also continues to be sourced across the devolved administrations.
As well as speaking at a range of conferences and events in 2019-20, ADR UK is co-sponsoring the 2019 International ADR Conference this December in Cardiff, and running a workshop for delegates. We are proud of what we have achieved so far, and excited for what’s to come. Watch this space.
Dr Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK, said: “In the first year of operation, there has (rightly) been a focus on ensuring we are set up to effectively deliver the ADR UK programme on time and to budget. Throughout this year, we have also built strong relationships with a wide range of government departments and related organisations. This means we are in a strong position to deliver across a range of initiatives that probably would not have been developed were it not for ADR UK. Moving forwards, the tracking and development of these new initiatives will be key for a UKRI decision on the future of the programme, along with the work the devolved administrations are taking forwards as part of this current investment. I look forward to continuing to work with all partners and stakeholders to deliver over the coming year and beyond.”