Recipient organisationNorthern Ireland Stat Res Agency NISRASource-published name: Northern Ireland Stat Res Agency NISRA
Funding£2.6M
PeriodSept 2018 — Mar 2021
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
The UK’s public sector holds vast amounts of data on its citizens—from tax records to school attendance—but these datasets are locked in separate government departments, rarely linked together for research. Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) is a partnership that safely joins up these fragmented datasets and gives accredited researchers secure access to them. The problem is straightforward: without linked data, policymakers cannot see the full picture of how society and economy actually work, making it harder to design effective policies on housing, health, employment, or education. ADR UK creates a permanent, sustainable body of knowledge tailored to answer specific policy questions. If successful, this will transform how decisions are made—not through guesswork or small-scale surveys, but through analysis of millions of real records on how people live, work, and use public services. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is a key partner, bringing proven expertise in curating and linking large-scale datasets, and acting as an accredited data processor under the Digital Economy Act. This is applied research with a direct, practical goal: better-informed government decisions that improve people’s lives.
View original technical description
ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) is a partnership transforming the way researchers access the UK’s wealth of public sector data, to enable better informed policy decisions that improve people’s lives. By linking together data held by different parts of government, and by facilitating safe and secure access for accredited researchers to these newly joined-up data sets, ADR UK is creating a sustainable body of knowledge about how our society and economy function – tailored to give decision makers the answers they need to solve important policy questions. ADR UK is made up of three national partnerships (ADR Scotland, ADR Wales, and ADR NI) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which ensures data provided by UK government bodies is accessed by researchers in a safe and secure form with minimal risk to data holders or the public. The partnership is coordinated by a UK-wide Strategic Hub, which also promotes the benefits of administrative data research to the public and the wider research community, engages with UK government to secure access to data, and manages a dedicated research budget. ADR UK is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation. To find out more, visit adruk.org or follow @ADR_UK on Twitter. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) receives funding as part of Administrative Data Research Northern Ireland (ADR NI), a partnership with the Administrative Data Research Centre Northern Ireland (ADRC NI, comprising Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University). Together they support the acquisition, linking and analysis of administrative data sets, developing cutting-edge research to improve knowledge, policymaking and public service delivery. NISRA is an accredited processor under the Digital Economy Act, and brings proven experience in curating, linking and managing large-scale data sets, employing world-class technological and methodological innovation to support researchers’ access to data sets to transform research and policymaking.
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