English

The Big Data Family is born - David Willetts MP announces the ESRC Big Data Network

Report this content

David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science, speaking at the prestigious Mountbatten Memorial Lecture last night, announced the recipients of the first phase of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) £64 million funding of investment in Big Data. Four new innovative administrative data research centres and a data service will strengthen the UK's competitive advantage in Big Data.

The centres and service together form the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) which will enable research based on linked data between government departments and be overseen by a single governance structure that will allow for consistent and robust decision-making.

At the core of the ESRC's Big Data Network are the centres to be led by the Universities of Southampton and Edinburgh, Swansea University and Queens University Belfast, with the administrative data service to be based at the University of Essex. Collectively, they will benefit from a grants package totalling approximately £34 million.

This investment in Big Data forms part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's announcement of capital funding for the eight Great British technologies in his Autumn 2012 Statement. These new investments are part of this landscape, and will make a significant contribution to ensuring the future sustainability of UK research competitiveness, supporting the UK in maximising its innovation potential and driving economic growth.

The centres will make routinely collected administrative data accessible for research in ways that prevent the identification of individuals, while providing a sound evidence base to inform research, and policy development, implementation and evaluation. This requires not just the development of a safe, secure and efficient system for linking, managing and analysing administrative data, founded on secure technologies, but on trust between data owners, researchers and other interested parties including the public.

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts, commented:

"Every day the world creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data – equivalent to over 150,000 iPads worth of information. The power of computing in analysis of massive and mixed datasets will transform science and industry in the UK and through the creation of the Big Data Network and the ADRNs; we hope to be well placed to take competitive advantage of this great technology.”

Professor Paul Boyle, Chief Executive of the ESRC, said:

"We are delighted to have played a leading role in the development of the national ADRN that will strengthen the UK's competitive advantage in Big Data. The core aim of the ADRN is to facilitate linkage of routinely collected administrative data, thereby stimulating opportunities for innovative research and policymaking. There will be benefits for researchers, government, local communities and the public – indeed there is the potential for a revolution in our ability to answer a host of questions that were previously intractable."

The centres for England, Northern Ireland and Wales and the Service came into being from 1 October, with the final centre in Scotland coming on board from next month. These will run for an initial period of five years.

ESRC Press Office:

Notes for editors

  1. The Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) consists of the following:
    • Administrative Data Service, University of Essex, directed by Melanie Wright
    • Administrative Data Research Centre - England, University of Southampton, directed by Professor Peter Smith
    • Administrative Data Research Centre - Northern Ireland, Queens University Belfast and directed by Dr Dermot O'Reilly
    • Administrative Data Research Centre - Scotland, University of Edinburgh, directed by Professor Chris Dibben
    • Administrative Data Research Centre - Wales, Swansea University, directed by Professor David Ford
  2. The Economic and Social Research Council is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2012/13 is £205 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.
  3. The ADRN has been informed by the work of the Administrative Data Taskforce, which was formed in December 2011 by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome Trust, and chaired by Sir Alan Langlands. Its report, Improving Access for Research and Policy, was published in December 2012. Further information on the Administrative Data Taskforce is available on the ESRC website.
  4. The ESRC's Big Data Network has been divided into three phases. In Phase 1 of the Big Data Network the ESRC has invested in the development of the Administrative Data Research Network. Phase 2 will focus primarily on business data and local government data and Phase 3, will focus on Third Sector data and social media data.

Susie Watts 
Email: susie.watts@esrc.ac.uk 
Telephone: 01793 413119

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Tags:

Economic and Social Research Council