LibGuides: Research Data Management: UK Data Service

What is the UK Data Service?

The UK Data Service provides access and training to use the UK's largest collection of economic, population and social research data for teaching, learning and public benefit.

Here, you can search for data pertinent to your research. You can sign up for training on various aspects of Research Data Management, how to use data in UKDS & how to share your own data.

It is also an archive. It is a place where you can deposit your research data. This is especially important if you are funded by ESRC since all data from ESRC funded projects must be deposited in the UK Data Archive Service or a responsible data repository. The grant holder is responsible for making these data available for re-use following the FAIR data principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, re-usable), with a persistent identifier provided for the data, and to inform the UK Data Service of the published location.

ESRC has a longstanding arrangement with the UK Data Service as a place for the deposit of research data, with grant holders required to submit data resulting from their research grants via the UK Data Service ReShare repository or an alternative responsible repository. If the data resulting from an ESRC grant is made available via an alternative responsible repository to increase discoverability of the collection a metadata record must be created in ReShare.

To ensure FAIR data can be made available and re-used the ESRC requires a Data Management Plan or DMP for all applications generating data.

Researcher Training from the UK Data Service

UK Data Service introductory training series: Autumn 2024

Our training series workshops in autumn 2024 are listed below and you can also browse our events pages for a full list of what is available.

Data in the spotlight: Large scale social surveys, Tuesday 24 September, 10.00 – 11.30

Introduction to effective and practical research data management, Monday 30 October, 10.00 – 11.30

How to become a computational social scientist, Tuesday 1 October, 10.00 – 11.30

Dissertation projects: Introduction to secondary analysis for qualitative and quantitative data, Tuesday 8 October, 10.00 – 11.30

Ethical and legal guidelines in data sharing, Thursday 10 October, 10.00 – 11.30

Getting started with secondary analysis, Tuesday 15 October, 10.00 – 11.30

Role of Informed Consent in Ethical Data Collection, Sharing and Reuse, Thursday 24 October, 10.00 - 11.30

Introduction to copyright: Copyright and publishing, Tuesday 29 October, 10.00 – 11.30

Introduction to copyright: Copyright and secondary data use, Tuesday 5 November, 10.00 – 11.30

Introduction to the UK Data Service, Thursday 7 November, 10.00 – 11.30

Introduction to anonymisation techniques for social sciences research data, Tuesday 19 November, 10.00 – 11.30

Finding and accessing data from the UK Data Service, Wednesday 20 November, 10.00 – 11.30

Best practices for documenting social sciences research data, Tuesday 26 November, 10.00 – 11.30

Data in the spotlight: International time series databanks, Thursday 28 November, 10.00 – 11.30

Data in the spotlight: Longitudinal data, Thursday 5 December, 10.00 – 11.30

Data in the spotlight: Census and population studies, Tuesday 10 December, 10.00 – 11.30

Data in the spotlight: Qualitative and mixed methods data, Tuesday 12 December, 10.00 – 11.30

Recordings of UK Data Service events are made available on our YouTube channel and, together with the slides, on our past events pages soon after the event has taken place.

Deposit your Data in UK Data Service

Benefits to deposit in the UK Data Service

Whether looking to deposit individual postgraduate research data or curated national data collections, deposit your data in the UK’s largest repository for quantitative and qualitative social science and humanities research data.

No costs associated with depositing.
An online platform for creating, uploading, and managing deposits.
A three-tier licensing framework facilitating a robust access policy.
Data management guidance and support provided to ensure legal sharing and re-use.
Controlled access to sensitive or confidential data through the Five Safes framework.
Resource discovery and citation supported with persistent identifiers (DOIs).
New deposits promoted to national and international researchers via newsletters, partner archives and research organisations.
De-identified study level metrics provided for funding proposals or extensions.

Please find information here how about how you go about sharing your data with UKDS.

Hear from data depositors

Data created or generated during research or administrative processes are valuable resources that can be used and reused for future scientific and educational purposes.