Welcome to the UK Data Service
Trusted access and training to use the UK's largest collection of economic, population and social research data for teaching, learning and public benefit.
Highlights
UK Data Service publishes Annual Report 2025–26
We are pleased to announce the publication of our Annual Report 2025–26. Within, we reflect upon a significant year for the Service and celebrate progress made across data infrastructure, access, curation, skills, partnerships and future-facing developments across the research data landscape.
We've been awarded Horizon Europe funding
The UK Data Service will receive just over €1.5 million in funding to develop AI-enabled tools and services, which support access to data for researchers. Our contribution to two new projects will drive development, in collaboration with CESSDA.
Data Impact Fellows 2027–28 applications now open
Are you an early career researcher or analyst in the academic or VCSE sector? Does your research use data in the UK Data Service collection? If you would like support to develop your ideas alongside a £3,500 award to help fund development, we invite you to apply for the next round of our Data Impact Fellows scheme.
Upcoming training and events
Learning Hub
Visit our free training resources and on-demand webinars to enhance your data knowledge and support social science teaching.
Our impact
Data Impact Fellows 2027–28 applications now open
Are you an early career researcher or analyst in the academic or VCSE sector? Does your research use data in the UK Data Service collection? If you would like support to develop your ideas alongside a £3,500 award to help fund development, we invite you to apply for the next round of our Data Impact Fellows scheme.
How is the EVENS dataset shaping policy and practice on ethnic inequality in Britain?
The Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) was developed to close the ethnicity data gap. EVENS is a landmark survey designed to better understand the lived experiences of ethnic and religious minority people during a period of unprecedented social change: the COVID-19 pandemic.
How can national data support safer, stronger local communities?
Our new 'local communities in data' impact theme brings together UK Data Service-enabled research, case studies, blog posts and data resources to explore how national datasets are used to understand and strengthen local communities. The theme focuses on three connected lenses: place, people and safety.
Watch our data skills training webinars
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Watch and learn all the latest data skills from our free webinars, training and video tutorials.
Introduction to effective and practical research data management
This workshop explores the key components of effective research data management, including data management planning, organising, and documenting data, ensuring data quality, storing and backing up data, as well as strategies for data preservation and sharing.
Using agent-based models as a sim tool to generate synthetic data
We explore the intersection of two computational social science ideas, synthetic data and agent-based models. This workshop covers why we create synthetic data using ABM, when it would be appropriate to do so, and much more.
Ignite discovery: elevate your research with data deposits
Deposit your research data free, in our ESRC funded data catalogue.
Latest news
Latest data collections and new editions 16 October 2026
An update of our latest data releases New datasets released SN 9624 Understanding Society: Innovation Panel, Waves 1-18, 2008-2025: Special Licence Access, Census 2021 Rural-Urban Indicators SN 9616 Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 1, Sweep 12, 2025: Special Licence Access SN 9619 Growing Up in Scotland: Cohort 1, Sweep 12, Geography Data, Intermediate Geography and […]
The UK Data Service plays important role in the development of UKRI’s new research data policy
UKRI research data policy This UKRI-wide policy, which was released on 14 October 2026, updates and harmonises the organisation’s expectations for responsibly managing and sharing research data so it is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) and as open as possible, and as closed as necessary. Experts from the UK Data Service helped to shape […]
The UK Data Service Dissertation Award 2026-27 is now open for entries
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the UK Data Service Dissertation Award for the 2026-27 academic year. Read on to find out all the information you need to know and how to enter: What is the Dissertation Award? The award recognises undergraduate social science dissertations that include excellent reuse of data. Who can enter? […]
Who makes us special?
Our podcast series, The Experts’ Expert, showcases some of the unique work we do to enable evidence-led research for public benefit.
