ADR UK 2019-20: Reflections on our second year
Categories: Reports, ADR UK Partnership
29 September 2020
ADR UK has today (29 September 2019) published its 2019-20 Annual Report, reflecting on our second year in operation.
Since September 2019, ADR UK has seen a number of key developments, including:
- The initiation of new partnerships between academia and government, including the Data First project, in partnership with the Ministry of Justice; the Wage & Employment Dynamics project, led by researchers at the University of the West of England; and other ground-breaking projects soon to be announced.
- New research insights, including links between air pollution and health in Northern Ireland; first insights into newborns in care proceedings in Wales; and deprivation and informal care at the end of life in Scotland.
- Important strides with existing projects, including publishing the very first analysis of the Growing Up in England dataset; dedicating additional funding for the research strand of ADR Scotland’s Understanding Children’s Lives & Outcomes project; depositing two de-identified, research-ready datasets from the Data First project in the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service; and launching the first ADR UK Research Fellowship to fund the first users of these newly available Data First datasets.
The unexpected challenges we have all faced in recent months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic have impacted every area of life. They have also emphasised the importance of data for solving economic and social problems and, in addition to our usual activities, ADR UK partners have played a key role in facilitating this in response to the pandemic.
For example, researchers from ADR Northern Ireland have played an important role in analysing Covid-19 deaths in Northern Ireland; a Covid-19 data task force and data service has been informed by ADR Scotland; an impact assessment on the Welsh population has been led by ADR Wales; and new datasets for analysis of social and economic impacts of the pandemic have been made available by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
ADR UK’s vision for 2026 is:
to be the default choice to host linked administrative data from across the entirety of UK and devolved government, making it accessible to a deep pool of trained researchers to generate insights routinely used to inform policy and practice.
As we continue on our path towards realising this vision, we look forward to another year of important work ahead.
Dr Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK, said: “In furthering our mission to enable better use of administrative data for research in the public interest, this year we saw the seeds sown across the partnership since the inception of ADR UK start to bear fruit. But I am acutely aware that this year was unique. The Covid-19 pandemic brought to the surface significant social and economic inequalities, generated new logistical challenges, and accelerated public understanding of the role trustworthy data plays in representing people and society, and in shaping policy.”
Read the full 2019-20 Annual Report.