New ESRC funding pre-announcement: Future Data Services, joining up the data service workforce

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has published a pre-announcement for a new funding opportunity to bring together communities of practitioners working across the data service landscape.

ESRC is making up to £2 million available to support a number of awards, ranging from £110,000 to £280,000. The funding will support groups of data service practitioners to work together, share knowledge and improve how data services are delivered for social science researchers.

This is a strong opportunity for anyone working with administrative data to help improve the systems and services researchers rely on to discover, access and use data.

Who can apply?

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) eligibility. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding. ESRC encourages applicants to apply as a small group or consortium.

Key dates

This is a pre-announcement, and the information may change. The funding opportunity is expected to open on 11 January 2027 at 9:00, with applications closing at 16:00 on 13 April 2027.

Find out more

Full details on eligibility, how to apply, and the assessment criteria are provisionally available on the UKRI website: 

Find out more