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Changes to the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative

As of 17 May 2018, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) introduced some key changes to the ESRC’s Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (SDAI) to encourage more high quality applications using secondary data from researchers working across all disciplines of social sciences and economics.

These changes to some of the eligibility criteria were:

  • Applicants are permitted to use any major data resource funded by the ESRC or other agencies, national or international, given sufficient justification and appropriate access
  • The maximum funding threshold for applications has been raised from £200,000 (100% fEC) to £300,000 (100% fEC)
  • The maximum duration of proposals has increased from 18 months to 24 months

The inclusion of an Early Career Researcher (ECR) as either Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator is no longer mandatory, although the inclusion of ECR’s is still encouraged.

The ESRC seeks applications with the potential to deliver high-quality and high-impact, policy and practitioner relevant research in social sciences and economics through the deeper exploitation of any major data resource. Many of the ESRC-funded eligible sources of data are accessible via the UK Data Service.

SDAI operates as an open call alongside ESRC’s Research Grants open call and proposals are considered by a distinct panel of experts specifically constituted to support this initiative.

For further information on the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative please contact the sdai@esrc.ac.uk mailbox.

For more information and details of how to apply, see the ESRC website.