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Articles by Stuart Brown
October 2026 UK Data Service newsletter
Read the full stories in our October 2026 newsletter. In this issue of the UK Data Service newsletter, we highlight two new Horizon Europe-funded projects: the AI4Social+ project, which we are working on with 14 partners across Europe, and the CDIF4EOSC project. We also have details about the launch of four new data skills modules designed to help social science data service professionals and social science researchers develop foundational skills in computational social science.
UK Data Service launches new computational social science data skills modules
We are delighted to announce the launch of four new data skills modules designed to help social science data service professionals and social science researchers develop foundational skills in computational social science. As we continue to see fast paced change in the data landscape, the data skills modules will support the use of new forms of data, new methods, ever-greater computing power and rapidly evolving research opportunities.
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 lead this project as it forms the backbone of the UK’s current qualitative data infrastructure.
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.
The 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. Read on to find out all the information you need to know and how to enter: What is the Dissertation Award? The award recognises undergraduate social science dissertations that include excellent reuse of data. Who can enter?
UK Data Service publishes Annual Report 2025–26
The UK Data Service has published its Annual Report 2025–26, Beyond 10,000: Shaping the future of research data. The report reflects a significant year for the Service, including the growth of the collection beyond 10,000 datasets and the launch of a new data catalogue. It brings together progress made across data infrastructure, access, curation, skills, partnerships and future-facing developments across the research data landscape.
Applications are now open for our 2027 Data Impact Fellows scheme
The UK Data Service invites you to apply to become one of its next cohort of Data Impact Fellows for a two-year programme running from January 2027 to December 2028. For 10 years the UK Data Service Impact team has been supporting early career researchers and analysts from academia and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector who want to take their data-driven work further – not just publishing it but getting it in front of people where it can make a real difference.
Program: The man without a name
It’s a fundamental principle of our legal system that courts should be open and the media should be free to report on court proceedings. Yet the man known as Patient A has been held in the NSW Forensic Hospital for 12 years and cannot be identified. Tom Morton reports. Loading Under NSW law forensic patients—those who have committed a serious crime but have been found not guilty by reason of mental illness—can’t be identified.
Q&A with Professor Meena Kumari: “The 7 Up series has raised awareness about the power of longitudinal studies”
The final part of the concluding episode of the 7 Up documentary series will air on 22 September. The series, which has tracked the experiences of fourteen people since 1964, has captivated audiences for over six decades while also showcasing the value of longitudinal studies. To mark the final episode, we asked Professor Meena Kumari, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), for her thoughts on the series.
New case study explores how the EVENS dataset is shaping policy and practice on ethnic inequality in Britain
The UK Data Service is excited to announce the publication of a new impact case study exploring how the Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) is shaping policy and practice on ethnic and religious inequality in Britain. Racially minoritised communities are often underrepresented in the data that drive research, policy and public debate – a problem known as the “ethnicity data gap”.
Discover dissertation resources from the UK Data Service this October
Are you undertaking or supervising a dissertation this academic year? Looking for resources to share with your students, or to help you get started with planning your project? Discover how practical resources and workshops available from the UK Data Service can help with planning a project, finding suitable data, and navigating the research process. This October we have a range of events and activities useful for dissertation students.
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.
Vacancy: Data Access and Use Assistant
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Vacancy: Head of Metadata Management and Discovery
University of Essex, UK Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences The UK Data Archive is seeking to appoint a new Head of Metadata Management and Discovery to provide strategic leadership for metadata policies, standards, workflows and services across the UK Data Service.
How V8 Supercars put hybrid COFDM/IP to the test
By Stuart Brown, special project director, Domo Broadcast Systems For more than two decades, COFDM has been the default choice for demanding live wireless contribution. In fast-paced, high-motion environments such as motorsport, its appeal is clear: predictable RF behaviour, very low delay, and strong performance in multipath-rich, non-line-of-sight conditions created by grandstands, pit buildings, vehicles, and moving camera positions.
Winners of the UK Data Service Dissertation Award 2026
We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s UK Data Service Dissertation Award, which celebrates outstanding undergraduate research using archived data available through the UK Data Service.
Two new teaching datasets released for the Quarterly Labour Force Survey and Crime Survey for England and Wales
We are pleased to announce the addition of two new teaching datasets to our collection. Created from major UK surveys, these datasets are designed to support teaching and learning by providing user-friendly, accessible data that are easy to explore and work with. Quarterly Labour Force Survey open access teaching dataset Our latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, January-March 2025: Open Teaching Dataset is designed to be easy to use.
July 2026 UK Data Service newsletter
Read the full stories in our July 2026 newsletter. In this issue of the UK Data Service newsletter, we have details on two new projects we’re working on to make it easier for researchers to find, access and integrate data from multiple repositories. The UK Data Service is one of a number of partners who have been awarded €15 million from Horizon Europe to work on the projects.
Vacancy: Senior Software Engineer
University of Essex, UK Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences The UK Data Archive is seeking to appoint a Senior Software Engineer to help build innovative software solutions while working within an AWS cloud infrastructure first environment. The successful candidate will become a key member of the development team. Applicants should have a strong foundation in C# and .NET Core, coupled with expertise in AWS services. Senior Software Engineer, UK Data Archive Closing date: 10 August 2026
Latest GP Patient Survey results for 2026 now available
The results of the latest GP Patient Survey are now available via the GP Patient Survey website. The GP Patient Survey is a large-scale push-to-web survey run by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England. This year the survey received responses from approximately 654,000 adults in England. The latest data are from the 2026 publication. Fieldwork was conducted from 2 January to 13 April 2026. The most recent reports and survey materials can be found on the GP Patient Survey website.
Championing data: Looking back at IASSIST 2026
The International Association for Social Science Information Services and Technology (IASSIST) conference is always a highlight of our year. This year’s conference, held online on 2–5 June, proved to be no exception, with eleven presentations featuring UK Data Service staff being delivered across the four days. In addition to presenting our work, it was fascinating to hear other developments from across the data landscape.
What we learned at the Health Studies User Conference 2026
On 25 June, we held our latest Health Studies User Conference in collaboration with UCL and the National Centre for Social Research. The conference brought together data producers and data users to share updates on key health-related surveys and showcase research using data from these surveys. Health-related survey updates This year’s conference featured several important data updates.
Engineering environmental bacteria for whole-cell PET hydrolysis and assimilation
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Research ArticleOnline nowOpen access Affiliations & Notes 1Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK 2Discipline of Microbes, Infection and Immunity, School of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK 3Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Northwest University, Kano, Muhammad Buhari Way, PM 3220 Kabuga, Kano State, Nigeria 4Imperial Centre for Engineering Biology,...
By Alice Banks, Umar Abdulmutalib, Christian Sonnendecker, Harry Doherty, Zheren Zhang, Juhyun Kim, Stuart Brown, Ren Wei, Carolina Alvarez-Ortega, Claudio Avignone-Rossa, Gerald Larrouy-Maumus, Wolfgang Zimmermann, Jose Jimenez, José Jiménez Verified, Brooke Wain, Charlotte Bosomworth, Pablo Pomposiello
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Cell Press
Verified
UK Data Service listed as a key resource in the UK Government’s Magenta Book
The UK Data Service has been listed as a key resource for government evaluators in the latest version of the UK Government’s Magenta Book. Published by HM Treasury, the Magenta Book is the central guidance document on how to evaluate policies, programmes and projects. The Magenta Book The Magenta Book is intended to show policy teams, analysts and commissioners across central government what good evaluation looks like.
Strengthening trust through the PEDRI Pledge
The UK Data Service has taken the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI) Pledge, reflecting our commitment to responsible, transparent, and trustworthy data research and statistics. As a trusted steward of economic, population, and social research data, the UK Data Service has a responsibility to ensure that data is preserved, curated, and made accessible in ways that support ethical and responsible use.
New ‘Local communities in data’ impact theme
The UK Data Service has launched a new impact theme, Local communities in data, showcasing how national datasets can be used to better understand and strengthen communities across the UK. The theme brings together a wide range of UK Data Service-enabled research, case studies, blog posts and data resources to explore how community life is shaped through three connected lenses: place, people and safety.
Receivership Order precludes whiskey maker’s effort to obtain bankruptcy relief
On March 19, 2026, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (Bankruptcy Court) dismissed the Chapter 11 cases filed by whiskey company Uncle Nearest, Inc. (Uncle Nearest) and certain affiliates, concluding that a prior federal Receivership Order over Uncle Nearest had divested company management of authority to seek bankruptcy relief.
Every Story Matters – new data from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry to be made available through the UK Data Service
As part of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, tens of thousands of people shared their stories about the pandemic through the “Every Story Matters” initiative. This exercise, which was the largest public engagement initiative ever held by a UK public inquiry, has created an invaluable record of how Covid-19 affected people’s lives across the UK. We are delighted to announce that the entire archive of experiences shared with Every Story Matters is to be made available to access through the UK Data Service.
Vacancy: Departmental Administrator — UK Data Service
University of Essex, UK Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences The UK Data Archive is seeking to appoint a Departmental Administrator to join our Business Strategy and Operations team on a part-time, job-share basis. The successful candidate will provide high-quality administrative support to colleagues across the organisation, ensuring the smooth and efficient running of operations. Departmental Administrator, UK Data Archive Closing date: 4 May 2026
Advancing data curation through the MetaCurate-ML project to improve data discovery
The UK Data Service continues to explore new ways to improve how data is prepared, described, and delivered to researchers. As part of this work, our Research and Development and Curation teams have been working on MetaCurate-ML, a pilot project initially funded through the ESRC Future Data Services programme which subsequently received supplementary funding through the EPSRC AI for Science fund. MetaCurate-ML A key focus of the project is the FAIR data principles.
Department for Education and UK Data Service collaborate to expand access to research-ready education data
The Department for Education (DfE) and the UK Data Archive have strengthened their long-standing collaboration through a new framework agreement. Building on a history of successfully curating and providing access to DfE and DfE-linked data, this agreement streamlines the process for depositing and sharing new datasets via the UK Data Service.
New study sheds light on the accommodation challenges faced by women who have survived domestic abuse
Data from a new study on the experiences of women who have survived domestic abuse is now available through the UK Data Service. The Women Who Have Survived Domestic Abuse and Their Accommodation Experiences in England study includes responses from 40 women who have survived domestic abuse, with a particular focus on their experiences accessing accommodation and domestic abuse support.
New data linkage and access initiative announced for Longitudinal Population Studies
We’re pleased to announce a new project to help maximise the visibility and long‑term value of data from Longitudinal Population Studies. The initiative will enable UK-based Longitudinal Population Studies to apply to join UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC) and/or the UK Data Service at no cost. The project is being led by UK LLC in collaboration with the UK Data Service and is funded by Population Research UK.
UK Data Service shortlisted in two categories at the British Data Awards 2026
We’re pleased to announce that the UK Data Service has been shortlisted in the “Data Partnership of the Year” and “Not-For-Profit of the Year” categories for the British Data Awards 2026! The winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Brewery in London on 20 May. Our nomination in the “Data Partnership of the Year” category reflects the long-standing, multi-institution collaboration that lies at the heart of our work.
Do we really need anti-money laundering reforms?
Late last year, the professional services sector was surprised by the announcement that the government is reforming the current anti-money laundering (AML) regime, making the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) the single supervisor for professional services.
Key takeaways from the Crime Surveys User Conference 2026
On 11 March, we were pleased to host the 2026 Crime Surveys User Conference in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Scottish Government. The conference featured updates from data producers and an insightful mix of presentations from researchers who have used data from UK crime surveys. Mapping the crime landscape Greg Rose, a Senior Research Officer at the ONS, started the event with an update on data and findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Four centuries of commercial whaling eroded 11,000 years of population stability in bowhead whales
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Population structure We constructed an unrooted haplotype network for all complete mitochondrial genomes (Late Pleistocene, pre-whaling Holocene, contemporary) individuals using the Median-joining network185 as implemented in PopART.90 Fixation index values (FST) were calculated by pooling individuals into 2,000 year time bins and splitting them into their two respective regions using Arlequin v3.5,91 using default parameters and an input file generated with DnaSP.
By Michael Westbury, Stuart Brown, Andrea Cabrera, Hernan E Morales, Bárbara Parreira, Jilong Ma, Moises Coll Macia, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Arthur Dyke, Camilla Hjorth Scharff-Olsen, Michael Scott, Øystein Wiig, Lutz Bachmann, Kit M. Kovacs, Christian Lydersen, Steven Ferguson, Paul Szpak, Damien A. Fordham, Eline Lorenzen, Michael Scott
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Cell Press
Verified
Millennium Cohort Study Age 23 data now available
The latest data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is now available from the UK Data Service. This release covers the Age 23 sweep, which includes information collected from more than 9,700 study participants between 2023 and 2025. What is the Millennium Cohort Study? The Millennium Cohort Study is a UK longitudinal birth study conducted by the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies. It follows the lives of around 19,000 children born in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2000-02.
UK Data Service publishes Annual Report 2024–25: Progressing data for a better future — UK Data Service
We’re pleased to announce we have published our UK Data Service Annual Report 2024–25 for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, marking the first year of delivery under our new ESRC funding award. The report reflects a year focused on strengthening foundations: improving services, investing in infrastructure, and supporting researchers through faster access to data, new platforms, and enhanced training and engagement.
UK Data Service Newsletter – January 2026 — UK Data Service
Read the full stories in our UK Data Service Newsletter – January 2026. In this issue of the UK Data Service newsletter, we preview our upcoming Perspectives on Engagement and Impact event in Manchester on 11 February. This unique event is designed to help researchers drive impact in society through their research findings. It’s also that time of year again where we celebrate Love Data Week (9-13 February).
Understanding Society Wave 15 data now available from the UK Data Service — UK Data Service
The latest wave of data from Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study is now available from the UK Data Service. Wave 15 gives a rich overview of life in the UK, including new content on families and the environment. You can access the full release via our data catalogue. What is Understanding Society? Understanding Society is a longitudinal study that tracks the lives of individuals in thousands of British households.
Celebrate your undergraduate dissertation with the UK Data Service Dissertation Award — UK Data Service
Have you used data from the UK Data Service in your undergraduate dissertation? If so, consider submitting your dissertation to the 2026 UK Data Service Dissertation Award. The deadline for submissions is 12.00 (lunchtime) on Wednesday 1 July 2026. Showcase your research As well as a £300 prize, winners will get the opportunity to write about their work on the UK Data Service Data Impact blog.
#277: A Comma for Christmas
Support this show Get an ad-free version of the show, plus a monthly extended episode. John's new art piece leads to a discussion of accuracy and build quality in toys for grown men and sometimes children. Stream this episode Links and Show Notes John's new art piece leads to a discussion of accuracy and build quality in toys for grown men and sometimes children.
New case study explores how the design of survey questions shapes what we know about climate opinion — UK Data Service
The UK Data Service is excited to announce the publication of a new impact case study exploring how the design of survey questions shapes what we know about public attitudes towards climate change. As climate change becomes an increasingly urgent and politically charged issue, understanding public opinion is critical for shaping effective policy.
UK Data Service Newsletter – Winter 2025 — UK Data Service
Read the full stories in our UK Data Service Newsletter – Winter 2025. In this issue of the UK Data Service newsletter, we highlight a major update to our Data Catalogue. The new catalogue has been designed with user feedback at its core and we hope it will make finding and working with data faster and easier than ever before. We also mark an important milestone for the UK Data Service: we now have over 10,000 data collections available.
UK Data Service collaborates with CLOSER on podcast about how research data can influence government policies — UK Data Service
We were pleased to join forces with the team at CLOSER again this year to produce another informative podcast featuring several high-profile experts from the world of data, including our own Director, Dr Steve McEachern. In this new production, we explore how research data can be used by government policymakers to make positive influences to so many different aspects of our society.
Submit your entry for the UK Data Service Dissertation Award 2025-26 — UK Data Service
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the UK Data Service Dissertation Award for the 2025-26 academic year. The award recognises undergraduate social science dissertations that include excellent reuse of data. UK Data Service resources for students Undergraduate students can access data from our catalogue once they have registered with their institutional login.
Vacancy: Senior Learning and Development Lead — UK Data Service
University of Essex, UK Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences The UK Data Archive is seeking to appoint a Senior Learning and Development Lead. The successful applicant will take ownership of reviewing, developing and delivering high-quality training resources aligned with a new pan-UKRI policy.
ESRC releases Future Data Services Phase One Report
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has released its Future Data Services Phase One Report: Fixing the Data Pipeline. The report reviews current practices and provides a roadmap for the future of data discovery and access. The ESRC has been investing in data services that enable researchers to discover, access and use data for almost 60 years.
Congratulations to the winners of the RSS poster competition — UK Data Service
We were delighted to attend the Royal Statistical Society’s International Conference in Edinburgh on 1-4 September 2025 and sponsor the winner of the poster competition, which was won by Tess Vernon and Samuel Connolly, from Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland. This year’s event had over 900 attendees from over 50 countries and featured some fascinating sessions on the latest developments across statistics and data science.
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