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
Our role in the development of UKRI’s new research data policy
This UKRI-wide policy updates and harmonises the organisation’s expectations for responsibly managing and sharing research data. Experts from the UK Data Service helped to shape the policy for researchers and organisations, to provide greater consistency and clarity to existing expectations.
Unlocking the power of qualitative data with QUADRA-AI
The UK Data Service is leading a new project aimed at significantly enhancing the UK’s qualitative data infrastructure. The QUADRA‑AI project will achieve this by developing and deploying AI‑enabled tools, strengthening governance frameworks and building researcher capacity to improve the discovery, access and reuse of qualitative data.
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. Undergraduate students who are writing dissertations on social science topics and have used data accessed from the UK Data Service, may enter for a chance to win £300 and publicity via our organisation.
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 synthetic data
Learn more about the fundamentals of synthetic data, including what synthetic data is and is not, plus watch a live coding demonstration in Jupyter notebook demonstrating methods in Python for generating synthetic data of various forms.
Using QGIS to map 2021/22 census data from the UK Data Service
This free online workshop focuses on the use of the free and open-source cross-platform QGIS GIS application, to create maps and other geographical visualisations from the 2021/22 census data provided by the UK Data Service.
Ignite discovery: elevate your research with data deposits
Deposit your research data free, in our ESRC funded data catalogue.
Latest news
Enhancing Qualitative Data Infrastructure through AI-Enabled Curation, Governance and Research Capacity Building (QUADRA-AI)
The UK Data Service is leading a new project aimed at significantly enhancing the UK’s qualitative data infrastructure. The QUADRA‑AI project will achieve this by developing and deploying AI‑enabled tools, strengthening governance frameworks and building researcher capacity to improve the discovery, access and reuse of qualitative data. The UK Data Service is well placed to […]
Vacancy: Secure Data Infrastructure (TRE) Manager
University of Essex, UK Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences As part of the UK Data Service’s strategic roadmap, our existing secure Trusted Research Environment (TRE) for handling sensitive data is undergoing a complete transformation over the next two to three years. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the transition to a modern, cloud-based […]
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 […]
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.
