Luxembourg Income Study joins the SafePod Network, expanding secure access to global income and wealth data

The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) has joined the SafePod Network. This means their internationally-renowned data can now be accessed by accredited researchers across the UK for the first time through SafePod Network services.

LIS brings together one of the world’s largest collections of information about how people live, work and earn. Its databases cover nearly 1,000 studies from more than 50 countries, spanning six decades and every major world region. This allows researchers to make detailed comparisons of income, wealth, and inequalities across time and place.

Joining the ADR UK-funded SafePod Network means this valuable resource can now be used from SafePods based in universities and research organisations around the country. This helps level the playing field for researchers, removing the need to travel long distances to specialist facilities to access sensitive data for public good research.

What the Luxembourg Income Study offers

LIS organises its international data into three main databases:

• Luxembourg Income Study Database
  A global collection of harmonised income data – the largest of its kind – covering more than 50 countries over several decades.
• Luxembourg Wealth Study Database
  The first international resource that allows researchers to compare household wealth across countries, drawing on more than 100 datasets.
• Economic Research Forum-Luxembourg Income Study Database
  A joint project with the Economic Research Forum, combining income and consumption data from seven countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

To help researchers find what they need, LIS also provides a searchable catalogue called the METadata Information System (METIS), which brings together documentation about all three databases in one place.

Enabling secure access to international data

The SafePod Network provides standardised safe settings across the UK, allowing accredited researchers to access sensitive and confidential data securely from a range of data centres. Funded by ADR UK, the network aims to improve equality of access to secure data, ensuring researchers do not face unnecessary geographical or infrastructural barriers to analysis.

LIS joins existing SafePod Network partners including the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service, UK Data Service SecureLab, SAIL Databank, Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland, and Health and Social Care Northern Ireland.

Apply for access

Researchers interested in accessing LIS databases through the SafePod Network can find out more about application processes and requirements on the LIS website.

For queries, LIS can be contacted via omar@lisdatacenter.org or +352 20 60 25 20 12.

This news item has been abridged from the original announcement on the SafePod Network website.