ADR UK announces Academic Leads to work with the Ministry of Justice for data-driven impact

ADR UK is delighted to announce funding for ADR UK Academic Leads from 2026 - 2031, who will work with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as part of the Data First programme. This project aims to facilitate and deliver new and innovative research across the justice system.

Dr Bachar Alrouh will be the project lead, with Dr Ludivine Garside as the project co-lead. Both are based in the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford’s Department of Education. 

The ADR UK Data First Academic Leads will be embedded and integral members of the MoJ Data First team, ensuring the programme meets the needs of academics using the data and maximises the impact of research for the public good. 

ADR UK Data First Academic Leads will champion the programme across the academic community while supporting MoJ to realise the full value of its linked justice datasets by:

• strengthening researcher capability to use flagship datasets for public good research
• representing researchers in the continuous improvement of Data First datasets and the wider researcher journey
• building and sustaining an active, engaged community of researchers using the datasets
• expanding policy relevant and impactful use of Data First datasets.

What they’ll deliver 

The Academic Leads will act as a bridge between government and academia, ensuring that datasets are used to their full research potential and that academic researchers are supported through their end-to-end journey. 

This includes maximising the value of ADR UK Data First flagship datasets:

• Data First: Cross-Justice System - England and Wales
• Data First: Family Court linked to Cafcass and Census 2021 - England and Wales
• Ministry of Justice & Department for Education linked dataset - England.

These datasets are de-identified and are available for accredited researchers to apply to access securely for approved projects in the public good.

ADR UK Data First Academic Leads will also ensure the Data First programme remains responsive to emerging research questions, methods and user needs. At the same time, they will support the programme to deliver real-world impact by helping to align research activity with justice priorities and the MoJ Areas of Research Interest 2025.

They will join a collection of ADR UK Academic Leads focused on building the public good value of our data across different datasets. 

Driving impactful research with linked data

This funding reflects ADR UK's continued commitment to enabling policy-relevant research using linked administrative data, ensuring that MoJ's justice datasets deliver maximum benefit for researchers, policymakers and the public.

ADR UK’s longstanding collaboration with MoJ through the Data First programme has enabled research that provides new evidence on people’s experiences across the justice system. With MoJ confirmed as an ADR UK core partner this year, this grant represents an opportunity to further develop research capacity around MoJ data and drive impact.

We are delighted that Dr Alrouh and Dr Garside will be joining the Data First team! Our collaborations with academic researchers are fundamental to the success of Data First, and the Academic Leads play a key role in ensuring the programme continues to meet researchers' needs and maximise the benefits for justice research. 

-  Dr Nisha de Silva, Programme Director and Senior Responsible Owner – Data First, Ministry of Justice

About the award

The full economic cost of this award is up to £500,000, with ADR UK funding 80% of this cost. The grant will be led by Dr Bachar Alrouh, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Rees Centre. He will be joined by Dr Ludivine Garside, a Research Fellow at the Rees Centre, as project co-lead. 

Bachar said: “Data First has created an exceptional opportunity to understand people’s experiences across the justice system through linked administrative data. Having worked directly with these datasets, I know both their enormous research potential and some of the challenges researchers face in using them. 

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Ministry of Justice, ADR UK and the wider research community to help researchers make the best possible use of these resources and ensure that the evidence generated delivers real value for policy, practice and the public.”

Ludivine said: “Data First has been a pioneering programme, opening up justice data to researchers in ways that remain rare internationally. The Ministry of Justice has risen up to this challenge. We now want to build on that achievement by strengthening these flagship datasets, making them easier to use, and growing a vibrant research community that can address important policy questions and realise their potential for public benefit.”