ADR UK Annual Report 2022–2023: A year of transforming data access for public good research
Categories: Annual Report, ADR UK Partnership
19 September 2023
ADR UK is delighted to share its annual report for 2022-2023. This report highlights a year of progress across the partnership, in support of our mission to harness the potential of administrative data for research for the public good.
This year we have engaged with a range of public and professional stakeholders to enrich our understanding, worked to make more linked datasets available for accredited research, and supported the development of policy-relevant insights to improve lives.
For the first time, we have published this year’s annual report as a digital microsite. That means you can navigate independently to find the sections and activities of most interest to you – from new and emerging datasets to our programme of public engagement.
A year of developments
The report reflects significant developments in scaling up our activities and strengthening our ambitions. We now have over 1,300 live and completed research projects, approaching 7,000 accredited researchers, and over 400 datasets for these researchers to apply to use in the public interest.
The year from October 2022 – September 2023 has been full of achievements and milestones across the ADR UK partnership. Teams from ADR England, ADR Northern Ireland, ADR Scotland, ADR Wales and the Office for National Statistics have been taking strides towards fulfilling the objectives set out in their strategies for 2022 – 2026.
Read key developments across the partnership.
Just two years into the ADR UK 2021-26 Strategy and following a £90 million reinvestment from UK Research and Innovation, it is amazing to see how much is being achieved across the entire partnership. In all four ADR UK trusted research environments, the collection of research-ready datasets continues to grow - transforming how researchers access linked or linkable administrative data.
Engaging with people to shape our research
Meaningful engagement with the public is at the heart of ADR UK’s work. We define this as a purposeful set of activities designed to promote an ongoing dialogue with the public about administrative data research, driven by active listening and responding. Understanding the public’s views in relation to the use of their data, and shaping research to address their needs, is vital for maximising the positive impact of administrative data research.
Read more about our public engagement activities this year, including public panels, working with children and young people, and the ADR UK – Office for Statistics Regulation public dialogue.
Much of our activity centres on engaging with researchers, to ensure we are meeting their needs and empowering them to produce policy-relevant insights. Read more about our year of engagement with the research community.
We also work with the ADR UK Ambassadors – people working in government and academia who are committed to improving the use of administrative data research to inform policy and practice. Hear from two of our Ambassadors, including their thoughts on the upcoming ADR UK Conference 2023.
Improving access to data
Across the ADR UK partnership, we’re working to create and facilitate secure research access to linked datasets that can help us answer priority policy questions. By linking information across different areas of public life, we can equip researchers to help inform decisions that will improve people’s lives. Read about the ADR UK datasets that are newly available this year, and those that are emerging soon.
Want to know more about where and how accredited researchers can apply to access ADR UK datasets? Take a look at our map of data access points.
A core part of our work involves removing barriers and improving the capability of researchers to use administrative datasets, as set out in our Training and Capacity Building Strategy. From launching a data catalogue to help researchers find out about our datasets, to funding PhD studentship opportunities that will support more researchers to use them, we are working towards a future where administrative data is more routinely used for public good research. Here are five ways we’re improving researchers’ experiences of accessing administrative datasets.
To read about all of this and more:
