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Sensitivity to Meaningful Morphological Information Acquired through Reading Experience Data Collections, 2022-2025
No full textThe data collection comprises three elements that link properties of the words that occur in books suitable for children and young people to the morpheme knowledge that readers display in reading tasks. These three elements include the following:
(a) A lexical database of the words that occur in 1200 books suitable for children and young people aged 7-16. This database comprises over 100,000 words and a range of psycholinguistic properties such as word frequency and contextual diversity. The corpus from which these words were sourced contains over 70 million words.
(b) A computational algorithm that parses these words into morphemes and provides data about their frequency of occurrence. Notably, the parser works on morphemes defined orthographically (as opposed to etymologically) and so captures what a child might learn about morphology through reading experience.
(c) Response time and accuracy data from a large-scale study of human readers that links the corpus-based metrics pertaining to morphemes to reading performance.
Each of these datasets, along with relevant pre-processing and analysis code, is available on the Open Science Framework (OSF). Each of these OSF projects also contains comprehensive documentation to facilitate reuse. Links are available as related resources.The majority of words in English and in other languages are built by combining smaller units of meaning called morphemes (e.g. clean+ly, un+clean). Understanding how a language's morphology works is vital because it allows us to generalise; for example, we can understand 'misclean' because we know that [mis-] and [clean] function as meaningful elements. Research suggests that morpheme knowledge provides an important heuristic for vocabulary growth, and that this knowledge facilitates rapid reading comprehension in adults.
The aim of this project is to discover how we acquire abstract knowledge of affix morphemes (e.g. -ify, -ly). These units typically do not occur in isolation, so their functions must be inferred through experience with whole words (e.g. purify, falsify, simplify). Recent theories suggest that we learn these units because they provide powerful information about word meaning (e.g. -ify means 'to make [stem]'). However, these theories have been developed largely through laboratory experiments using simple miniature languages. The way that morphemes communicate meaning in real language is far more complex: we do not know what drives learning 'in the wild' or what it is that children are learning.
This project develops two research streams to quantify how children's language experience shapes morpheme knowledge.
Our first research stream offers an unprecedented attempt to quantify the nature of affix information in children's literature. We will build a large-scale children's text corpus including books suitable for ages 7 to 16, and will develop theoretically-driven metrics that capture the nature of affix information. The development of these metrics will capitalise on new computational techniques that permit us to capture how morphemes contribute to meaning in a richer and more nuanced way than has previously been possible. We will calculate these metrics across the whole corpus but also as text accumulates across material suitable for different age bands. This latter analysis is important because the vocabulary used in books across this age range is likely to change considerably (particularly for longer, morphologically-complex words), and this will influence what children can learn about individual affixes.
Our second research stream then probes how the affix regularities uncovered in the first research stream influence morphemic knowledge. This work advances the state-of-the-art because it allows us to move beyond questions of whether or not relatively small groups show morphological effects. Instead, our prediction is that morpheme knowledge should be a function of (a) an individual's linguistic experience; and (b) the statistical regularity with which specific affixes contribute to word meaning. Item-based measures will be derived from the corpus analysis; participant-based measures will be derived from a variety of measures of language and literacy.
The immediate outcome of this work will be a new theory of how language experience underpins the acquisition of morphemic knowledge. This new theory will contribute more broadly to our understanding of how language experience shapes language knowledge, and it will stimulate new thinking about why reading might be a particularly important source of language experience. This project will also produce a new children's text corpus and high-dimensional semantic representations built from that corpus. These products will be made available in user-friendly interfaces to the fullest extent possible to facilitate future research.</p
English Private Landlord Survey, 2024
No full textAbstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The English Private Landlord Survey (EPLS) is a national survey commissioned by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). It surveys private landlords and letting agents in England, and collects information about their circumstances, their properties, their tenants, and the possible impact of legislative and policy changes in the sector. The aim of the EPLS is to inform government understanding of the characteristics and experiences of landlords and how they acquire, let, manage and maintain privately rented accommodation.Although the EPLS explores similar issues to previous government private landlord surveys, carried out in 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2010 (the 2010 study is available under SN 7114), it uses a new method and approach. Whereas previous surveys used face-to-face and telephone interviews with the sample drawn from the English Housing Survey, the EPLS uses an online survey with the sample drawn from landlords and agents with deposits registered with one of the three government-backed Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) schemes.More information about this survey can be found on the GOV.UK English Private Landlord Survey webpage.Main Topics:The questionnaire included questions about the landlord, the rental property and tenants, rental practice, rents and deposits, benefits and rent arrears, tenancies that ended, the landlord journey, future plans, landlord and agent concerns, finances and taxation and energy efficiency and safety
Energy Landscape Household Questionnaire and Data, 2020-2025
No full textEthiopia faces a critical challenge in delivering affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy to its predominantly rural population. While renewable energy offers a promising solution to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy access, progress has been slow due to
structural, social, and infrastructural barriers. More than 80% of Ethiopians live in rural areas where national grid expansion is economically and logistically unfeasible, underscoring the
need for decentralized, off-grid alternatives.
Community energy systems, off-grid projects in which local communities actively participate in the development and management of energy infrastructure, represent a promising but underutilized pathway to bridging Ethiopia’s energy access gap. Despite their potential to promote local ownership, resilience, and social inclusion, these systems remain poorly developed and understood in the Ethiopian context.
This study aims to explore the opportunities and barriers associated with community energy systems in Ethiopia and their potential role in advancing energy transitions. Using an experimental and interpretive lens, the research draws on a comparative analysis of three in-
depth, multi-method qualitative case studies. It investigates how community energy projects are initiated, managed, and experienced in practice.
Findings reveal that community involvement is central to the sustainability of these systems, with communities often assuming full operational responsibilities post-commissioning. However, projects face persistent challenges related to accessing capital, managing
fragmented supply chains, and building local capacity: particularly around governance, technical maintenance, and understanding viable business models. The study highlights the need for enabling policy frameworks and capacity-building interventions to unlock the full
potential of community energy in Ethiopia’s clean energy transition.
Data collection method
This study explores three community energy projects in Ethiopia: The Gira Tsatse solar mini-grid in Tigray, the Bura micro-hydro plant, and the Mesino Tebita solar irrigation system.
Serving 65 to 300 households each, the projects were initially supported by regional governments, GIZ, and Bahir Dar University, with ownership later transferred to the communities. They vary in application, from basic electricity needs like lighting and charging
to productive uses such as milling, irrigation, and small businesses, reflecting diverse local contexts and energy needs.
Primary data was gathered from 151 households (26.7% of 565 total beneficiaries) through structured surveys, with attention to gender and cultural diversity. Local multilingual data collectors conducted and translated the interviews. Purposive sampling was used to ensure
geographic and cultural representation. Additionally, six experts and local administrators provided insights through interviews and
written responses, conducted in Tigrigna, Amharic, and English. This mixed-method, multilingual approach yielded a comprehensive understanding of community energy systems, benefits, sustainability, and implementation challenges.The 2019 Energy Progress Report shows the need to step up efforts to link on-grid and off-grid strategies to facilitate access to electricity (EIA et al, 2019). According to the report, eight of the twenty countries with the largest deficits in access to electricity are in East Africa, including Ethiopia, Malawi, and Mozambique. In countries facing such significant gaps in energy access, the rapid adoption of renewable energy may help to deliver access to energy sustainably. The growing availability of renewable technologies in East Africa's countries suggests that such a transition is possible. However, technology alone will not solve the challenge of energy access.
A transition to sustainable energy needs to prioritise the social needs of excluded and disadvantaged groups. Responding to people's energy needs requires institutional, organisational, and financial models of energy delivery that prioritise social benefits over profits.
New models of energy delivery have been developed to involve communities in the design and management of off-grid systems. While the size and technologies used vary, all Community Energy Systems (henceforth CESs) incorporate the perspectives of beneficiaries on electricity generation and distribution through collaborative mechanisms for decision-making. CESs can provide additional capacity to existing grids, provide off-grid services where the grid is absent, and bridge on-grid and off-grid systems.
The project CESET brings together researchers from political science, human geography, engineering and technology providers to understand the role of CESs in advancing a just sustainable energy transition that will bridge the energy access gap in East Africa.
Our focus is in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Mozambique, three countries where there is considerable local enthusiasm about CESs. Proponents of CESs argue that they can foster deep structural transformations in countries facing large electricity deficits. First, by giving ownership to communities, CESs challenge the political economy of energy and reveal energy-related inequalities. Second, by demonstrating new modes of service provision, CESs can diversify the institutional landscape of energy delivery. Third, by incorporating the concerns of the more disadvantaged populations in the design and management of energy services, CESs can respond to their needs directly and generate innovations tailored to those needs.
There is little evidence of how CESs work in practice and their impacts in East Africa because of the shortage of data on CESs, and energy systems more generally. There is a need to renew policy and practice. Research and interventions often rely on technological blueprints that do not fit the institutional and material conditions in which CESs operate. Moreover, conceptualisations of communities as harmonious, homogenous units obscure the multiple forms of exclusion that influence energy access and infrastructure management. There is already an international consensus about the need for disaggregated data to understand the gender gap in energy access. CESET advocates going beyond by considering the intersection of gender with multiple social characteristics that may also lead to exclusion from energy services (such as age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, place of origin).
CESET will produce three outcomes to address this challenge. CESET's theoretical framework will recognise the variety of CESs models and how they interact with multiple variables of community diversity. CESET will also characterise the landscape of operation of CESs in East Africa at three scales: local, national, and regional. Further learning will happen with the activation of a Community Energy Lab in Mozambique to compile evidence of what works in practice. CESET's efforts will lead to the creation of a Regional Energy Learning Alliance to deliver a long-term research programme and support trans-sectorial learning on CESs in East Africa.</p
Austerity Redux: The Post‐Pandemic Wave of Budget Cuts and The Future of Global Public Health, 2021-2024
No full textThe convergence of health, economic and social crises over the past 1.5 years has posed profound questions over the direction of travel for the world after COVID-19. The narrative emerging out of major international organizations like the International Monetary Fund stresses avoiding a ‘divergent recovery’, whereby some countries steam ahead with high growth rates underpinned by robust government interventions and others fall further behind. In this account, crisis aftermath should not witness budget cuts, but investment in employment and human capital formation.
So, is austerity a thing of the past? In this article, we review available evidence, focusing on public spending projections by the IMF and the precise content of IMF lending arrangements. Overall, we find that abandonment of the austerity argument is partially true right now, and questionable in the medium-term.
Our analysis of public expenditure projections reveals that by 2023, 83 out of 189 countries will face contractions in government spending compared to their 2010s average, thereby exposing a cumulative total of 2.3 billion people to the socio-economic consequences of budget cuts. Most of the contracting countries will be middle-income, while public spending in low-income countries is expected to stagnate at low levels. Further, the IMF's lending arrangements reveal the return of extensive austerity measures and structural reforms, reminiscent of the organization's past policy advice. Drawing on these findings, we elaborate on how this will likely impact global public health.Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) are key actors in the spread of ideas, relying on their widely held legitimacy to influence policymakers around the world through a combination of coercion and persuasion. They devise rules and norms on issues as diverse as economic policy, health security, and environmental protection. Given the profound influence IGOs have on domestic policy decisions, the ideas these bodies represent are at the centre of current policy debates. Nonetheless, despite persistent academic attention, the avenues through which ideas travel from IGOs to domestic policymakers remain insufficiently understood. How do these ideas diffuse, where and when are these ideas implemented, and why do ideas become embedded in some countries but not others?
This project will be among the first to systematically examine the activities of IGO technical assistance missions. The three core research questions are:
1. Why do IGOs provide technical assistance?
2. How does IGO technical assistance spread ideas to domestic officials?
3. What effect does IGO technical assistance have on domestic policy?
To answer these questions, this project draws on recent theoretical advances in international relations and policy studies.
The focus of the empirical research will be the IGO underpinning the world economic order: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a central hub of knowledge on issues of key concern to developing countries, like fiscal and financial sector policies. The IMF presents a 'strategic research site', offering a unique analytical lens into the spread of policy norms to countries across the globe. The centrality of the organisation in global economic governance makes it a prime candidate for developing theoretical contributions that will be relevant to scholars across the social sciences.
The analysis will scrutinise the inner workings of IMF technical assistance activities, which account for one-quarter of the organisation's operating budget and is provided free-of-charge to requesting member countries. To study this phenomenon, the project will create a dataset of IMF technical assistance that systematizes information on all activities between 1990 and 2019, to be analysed using advanced quantitative methods. The project will also generate in-depth case studies of two frequent recipients of technical assistance-Kenya and Rwanda-by employing qualitative analyses of interviews with domestic officials and IMF staff. The research findings will contribute to academic debates on the diffusion of policy ideas by IGOs, and to policy debates on how to reform global governance.
What is at stake? IGOs typically court controversy because of the more conspicuous formal compliance mechanisms at their disposal-like the policy reforms governments must implement to obtain access to loans from international financial institutions. But profound influence is also exerted quietly in the background in providing domestic policymakers with routine technical assistance. These commonplace acts of persuasion are hidden from public scrutiny, and global governance institutions have been unaccountable for them. Consequently, this project aspires to lay the foundations for evidence-based policy debates on how IGOs provide technical assistance in order to increase public oversight and accountability for their actions.
The project is designed with a view to maximise impact for three groups of beneficiaries: academics, policymakers, and civil society. To effectively reach academic beneficiaries, the project will rely on academic articles, a book, conference organisation and attendance, and a reading group. To achieve non-academic impact, the project will rely on policy briefs, an interactive website, and pieces in popular media. To meet these objectives, the project will also draw on its Expert Advisory Board, and the institutional support of Royal Holloway's Department of Politics and International Relations.</p
Digital Inclusion of Disabled Individuals in Online and Offline Voluntary Work: Interview Data, 2024
No full textIn today’s interconnected world, internet access is often considered critical for accessing work. However, reliance on the internet also poses challenges for some disabled people, who may be vulnerable to digital exclusion. This innovative project delivered by an interprofessional team of social scientists, voluntary sector organisations, vocational rehabilitation practitioners, disability researchers, disabled people, and digital engagement specialists examined digital inclusion of disabled adults in voluntary work.
The project aimed to:
(1) advance understanding of how digital inclusion of disabled individuals fosters social inclusion in online and offline voluntary work; and
(2) identify effective principles to boost participation, inclusivity, and leverage the potential of digital technologies in the voluntary sector organisations.
A mixed-methods approach is adopted for a more comprehensive understanding of the research problem. This included qualitative interviews and analysis that will provide deeper understanding and explanations for these patterns through analysis of the lived experiences of disabled adults and survey data analysis.
The key findings included:
• Link Between Digital Inclusion and Volunteering: For disabled adults, being included in online and offline volunteering depends on how well they can access and use digital technology in general. The same devices, technologies, social support, and skills used in employment and other areas of life are often applied to volunteering. Because disabled adults often have less access to devices and the internet and use them less than non-disabled adults, they are more likely to miss out on volunteering opportunities that require it.
• Digital Access and Divide: Most disabled adults in the UK are connected digitally, but the digital divide persists. Disabled adults face greater digital challenges and exclusion compared to non-disabled adults, with the disability digital gap remaining largely unchanged since 2018.
• Digital exclusion: Nearly one million disabled adults don’t have Internet at home, 1.4 million don’t use the Internet, and about two million don’t own a smartphone or computer.
• Frequency of Use and Online Exclusion: Disabled adults use the Internet less often than non-disabled adults and they are more likely to be left out of common online activities like browsing, emailing, social media, online banking, and streaming videos.
• Double Disadvantage and Additional Challenges: Disabled people often come from groups that with already more limited access to the Internet and devices, such as older adults, those with low incomes, benefit recipients, renters from local authorities, people with less education and those living alone. On top of these existing barriers, being disabled means facing even more difficulties in accessing and using digital technology.
• Individual Nature of Disability Experience with Digital Tools: Disabled adults’ experiences with digital tools are highly individual, shaped by factors such as impairment type, severity, presence of multiple impairments, and their social context.
• Double-Edged Sword of Digital Technology and Online Volunteering: Digital technology is crucial for inclusion but can also be source of exclusion for those struggling with technology. Disabled adults are more inclined to engage in online volunteering, because of its accessibility. However, online volunteering also presents challenges that may deter some disabled volunteers. Despite some digital barriers, disabled adults show higher interest in online volunteering compared to non-disabled adults.
• Importance of Internet Access for Engaging in Volunteering: Internet access and usage are crucial for enabling disabled individuals to engage in volunteering, including both online and in-person opportunities. Those who use the Internet more frequently are more likely to volunteer, even after considering their socioeconomic background.
• Internet Access, Use, Devices and Volunteering Hours and Frequency: For disabled individuals, owning devices does not affect the number of volunteer hours. More frequent Internet use is linked to volunteering more hours, with exception of frequent Internet users (daily or weekly) who volunteer fewer hours. Device ownership and Internet use do not impact the frequency of volunteering.
• Digital Barriers and Enablers of Volunteering:
o Technology over-reliance: Over-reliance on technology can complicate volunteer journeys, especially when IT systems or support is unavailable or inadequate.
o Technological assumptions: Organisations often assume people understand how to use technology and devices and may not recognise the need for support or training.
o Variation in suitability of assistive devices: The effectiveness of assistive devices can facilitate or hinder participation, depending on their suitability and the level of support provided. Malfunctioning or unsuitable assistive devices can exacerbate challenges for disabled individuals. Disabled adults can experience a mismatched between requirements and devices available or provided that can lead to exclusion form volunteering opportunities.
o Reliance of support networks: To be effective, use of assistive devices draws on the skills and experience of informal support networks. Organisations should remain attuned to prioritising supporting people rather than supporting technology.
o Organisational culture: Organisations should encourage a culture of listening and providing empathetic support to address the specific needs of disabled volunteers and reduce digital barriers to volunteering. Support structures should be inclusive and allow volunteers to discuss their needs, ensuring parity with paid staff support.
• Volunteering and Employment: Our findings suggest that, rather than volunteering serving as a direct path to paid work, employment helps disabled individuals overcome digital barriers to volunteering. The confidence, skills and resources acquired through paid employment, as well as the social capital that often comes from being part of being a part of more diverse networks that includes work colleagues as well as more personal relationships, means that those in employment might be better able to navigate some of the barriers to securing volunteering roles. Such resources are less easily initiated in volunteer roles - we heard frustrations that the Access to Work scheme, which supports paid employment, does not cover voluntary work.
• Discrimination and Volunteering. Disabled people continue to experience indirect and direct discrimination. For some, the lack of appropriate devices, limited training, and organisational cultures that make people reluctant to seek support all imply a level of discrimination that makes it difficult for those in volunteering roles to always excel. Such discrimination was not always so indirect. There is evidence to indicate that those who have been in successful volunteering positions for some time suggested they are being denied employment opportunities because they are disabled.The data originate from the Digital Futures of Work Research Centre's Round 4 Innovation Fund project, *DIGITVOL: Digital Inclusion of Disabled Individuals in Online and Offline Voluntary Work*. This project investigated the impact of digitalisation on UK third-sector organisations, with a focus on the participation of disabled adults in online and offline voluntary work.
The project brought together an innovative interprofessional team of social scientists, third sector practitioners, vocational rehabilitation practitioners, disabled people, and digital engagement specialists to examine digital inclusion of disabled adults in voluntary work.
The project yielded fresh empirical insights from large-scale surveys and individual interview data, along with practical and policy guidelines to reduce the risk of exclusion. The findings will also have practical implications, supporting the inclusivity, employability, and well-being of disabled individuals, with potential applicability to paid work.
The Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Dig.IT) will establish itself as an essential resource for those wanting to understand how new digital technologies are profoundly reshaping the world of work. Digitalisation is a topical feature of contemporary debate. For evangelists, technology offers new opportunities for those seeking work and increased flexibility and autonomy for those in work. More pessimistic visions, in contrast, see a future where jobs are either destroyed by robots or degraded through increasingly precarious contracts and computerised monitoring. Take Uber as an example: the company claims it is creating opportunities for self-employed entrepreneurs; while workers' groups increasingly challenge such claims through legal means to improve their rights at work.
While such positive and pessimistic scenarios abound of an increasingly fragmented, digitalised and flexible transformation of work across the globe, theoretical understanding of contemporary developments remains underdeveloped and systematic empirical analyses are lacking. We know, for example, that employers and governments are struggling to cope with and understand the pace and consequences of digital change, while individuals face new uncertainties over how to become and stay 'connected' in turbulent labour markets. Yet, we have no real understanding of what it means to be a 'connected worker' in an increasing 'connected' economy. Drawing resources from different academic fields of study, Dig.IT will provide an empirically innovative and international broad body of knowledge that will offer authoritative insights into the impact of digitalisation on the future of work.
The Dig.IT centre will be jointly led by the Universities of Sussex and Leeds, supported by leading experts from Aberdeen, Cambridge, Manchester and Monash Universities. Its core research programme will cover four broad-ranging research themes. Theme one will set the conceptual and quantitative base for the centre's activities. Theme two involves a large-scale survey of Employers' Digital Practices at Work. Theme three involves qualitative research on employers' and employees' experiences of digitalisation at work across 4 sectors (Creative industries, Business Services, Consumer Services, Public Services). Theme 4 examines how the disconnected attempt to reconnect, through Public Employment Services, the growth of new types of self-employment, platform work and workers' responses to building new forms of voice and representation in an international context. Specific projects include:
1. The Impact of Digitalisation on Work and Employment
-Conceptualising digital futures, historically, regionally and internationally
-Comparative regulation of digital employment
- Mapping regional and international trends of digital technology and work
2. Employers' Digital Practices at Work Survey
3. Employers' and employees' experiences of digital work across sectors
-Changing management processes and practices
-Workers' experiences of digital transformation
4. Reconnecting the disconnected: new channels of voice and representation
- displaced workers, job search and the public employment service
- self-employment, interest representation and voice
Dig.IT will establish a Data Observatory on digital futures at work to promote our findings through an interactive website, report on a series of methodological seminars and new experimental methods and deliver extensive outreach activities. It will act as a one-platform library of resources at the forefront of research on digital work and will establish itself as a focal point for decision-makers across the policy spectrum, connecting with industrial strategy, employment and welfare policy. It will also manage an Innovation Fund designed to fund novel research ideas, from across the academic community as they emerge over the life course of the centre.</p
Improving Public Funding Allocation to Reduce Geographical Inequalities: Metadata and Documentation, 2024
No full text41 interviews were carried out between October and December 2024 with policy makers and practitioners across national and local government to 1) understand policy practitioner insight into current local government funding allocations aimed at reducing socio-economic disparities; 2) highlight the distinctions between devolved and non-devolved areas and differences within these groups in success and failures of funding allocations; 3) explore views on and perceived priorities for reform. These objectives are reflected in the interview schedule being deposited. A semi-structured approach allowed us to maintain consistency across the full set of interviews, and across our outputs and writeups, while leaving space for flexibility and to pursue lines of inquiry as needed.The aim of this project is to examine how the UK Government can create an improved public funding allocation system in England to reduce geographical inequities. The project will contribute to the Government's policy goal to reduce spatial inequalities in the UK by proposing better ways of allocating funding between places in England, based on a much clearer understanding of the funding system and the policy problems arising from it. We will achieve this by drawing together existing evidence on public funding allocation to assess the current landscape in England and bring new knowledge to bear on the issues via stakeholder engagement, in coproduction with national/local policymakers and other interested groups. The impact will be to provide government with actionable lessons based on different options of policy reform for improving funding allocation mechanisms that, if taken forward, will positively impact policy, people and places.</p
Urban Big Data Centre: Open Data, 2014-2025
No full textThe Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) is an ESRC research centre based at the University of Glasgow that promotes the use of smart data and innovative methods to improve social, economic & environmental well-being in cities.
From 2014-26, it was also funded by ESRC to provide a national data service to enhance access to 'smart data'. UBDC focuses on six main research themes (labour market, housing and neighbourhoods, transport and mobility, urban governance, urban sustainability, and education) as well as two research methods (urban sensing and participatory analytics).
You can find more information about UBDC by visiting https://www.ubdc.ac.uk. To explore UBDC’s data offerings, please visit https://data.ubdc.ac.uk/.
Some of UBDC’s data collections are open access and available via a Zenodo community. The community link can be found under the “Related resources” section.The proposed UBDRC will bring together an internationally outstanding combination of researchers, data resources and engaged local and national stakeholders to establish a unique linked data resource based in the University of Glasgow (UoG). Through extensive partnerships with other key academic institutions, data-owning organizations, and other scientific, governmental, third sector and business organizations, the UBDRC will: (i) establish a world leading facility to create an multi-sectoral urban linked data resource from local government authorities and business owners in Glasgow; (ii) provide outstanding training and research support services to ensure wide exploitation of the data; and (iii) deliver a strategic approach to knowledge transfer and training to build capacity and engage with policy, business, and the wider public. The UBDRC will provide a unique facility for researching cross-cutting urban issues and complex urban challenges by enabling access to multi-sectoral linked data from local government, business and other sources. This vision will be achieved by: (1) Data Services: UBDRC will focus on bringing together myriad of datasets many of which are unique and hard to obtain, from multiple urban sectors to create a linked urban data resource that allows comprehensive and cross-sectoral research. The centre will provide data curation services and the necessary metadata and provide a range of data access services to users, including, where necessary, secure access to confidential data. (2) Methods and social science research: UBDRC will develop, test and evaluate a wide range of methodological approaches including urban and regional modeling, agent-based models, machine learning and other methods and will support research leading to new cross-cutting theoretical insights, hypotheses and understanding of urban systems, thereby stimulating foundational research on new models of urban behaviour, processes and service provision. The data resource will be used to develop spatially-indexed (and perhaps temporally-indexed) urban indicators on myriad aspects describing the quality and character of urban spaces, and the spatial distribution of the urban processes, eg, on environmental risks, mobility and accessibility patterns, housing and educational aspects, and other aspects that desribe the socio-demographic, economic, environmental, built environment, physical and other aspects of urban areas.. The data would further allow policy research on a wide range of urban sectors and the derivation of a multitude of approaches for urban governance and business development. Additionally, new insights may be derived for capacity-building, innovations and learning strategies to better equip citizens to meet a diversity of challenges in cities of the future. (3) Knowledge Exchange, Outreach and Public Engagement: The UBDRC will be an important node in a growing network of UK-wide and international initiatives on cities. The networks include: international centres on urban research and cities, international research Networks, and networks of governmental, private, non-profit and other organizations.
The UBDRC will undertake a research programme to advance the state-of-the-art of methods related to the use of the data resource, as well as an applied urban research stream to demonstrate the use of the linked urban Big Data resource and to derive understanding towards theory, planning and policy. Research Group 1: Methods Research: A series of computational, data management, statistical, and urban analytics projects will be undertaken to make the data more easily accessible and usable. Group 2: Urban Research Projects (URPs): Research projects on substantive urban issues such as transport, housing, migration and education will demonstrate to data owners and policy makers the value of large-scale, cross-sectoral data linkage and lead to policy insights for public, private and non-profit decision-makers.</p
National Child Development Study: Age 62, Sweep 10 Geographical Identifiers, 2011 Census Boundaries, 2019-2024: Secure Access
No full textAbstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The National Child Development Study (NCDS) is a continuing longitudinal study that seeks to follow the lives of all those living in Great Britain who were born in one particular week in 1958. The aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan. The NCDS has its origins in the Perinatal Mortality Survey (PMS) (the original PMS study is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 2137). This study was sponsored by the National Birthday Trust Fund and designed to examine the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy among the 17,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales in that one week. Selected data from the PMS form NCDS sweep 0, held alongside NCDS sweeps 1-3, under SN 5565. Survey and Biomeasures Data (GN 33004):To date there have been ten attempts to trace all members of the birth cohort in order to monitor their physical, educational and social development. The first three sweeps were carried out by the National Children's Bureau, in 1965, when respondents were aged 7, in 1969, aged 11, and in 1974, aged 16 (these sweeps form NCDS1-3, held together with NCDS0 under SN 5565). The fourth sweep, also carried out by the National Children's Bureau, was conducted in 1981, when respondents were aged 23 (held under SN 5566). In 1985 the NCDS moved to the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) - now known as the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). The fifth sweep was carried out in 1991, when respondents were aged 33 (held under SN 5567). For the sixth sweep, conducted in 1999-2000, when respondents were aged 42 (NCDS6, held under SN 5578), fieldwork was combined with the 1999-2000 wave of the 1970 Birth Cohort Study (BCS70), which was also conducted by CLS (and held under GN 33229). The seventh sweep was conducted in 2004-2005 when the respondents were aged 46 (held under SN 5579), the eighth sweep was conducted in 2008-2009 when respondents were aged 50 (held under SN 6137), the ninth sweep was conducted in 2013 when respondents were aged 55 (held under SN 7669), and the tenth sweep was conducted in 2020-24 when the respondents were aged 60-64 (held under SN 9412). A Secure Access version of the NCDS is available under SN 9413, containing detailed sensitive variables not available under Safeguarded access (currently only sweep 10 data). Variables include uncommon health conditions (including age at diagnosis), full employment codes and income/finance details, and specific life circumstances (e.g. pregnancy details, year/age of emigration from GB).Four separate datasets covering responses to NCDS over all sweeps are available. National Child Development Deaths Dataset: Special Licence Access (SN 7717) covers deaths; National Child Development Study Response and Outcomes Dataset (SN 5560) covers all other responses and outcomes; National Child Development Study: Partnership Histories (SN 6940) includes data on live-in relationships; and National Child Development Study: Activity Histories (SN 6942) covers work and non-work activities. Users are advised to order these studies alongside the other waves of NCDS.From 2002-2004, a Biomedical Survey was completed and is available under Safeguarded Licence (SN 8731) and Special Licence (SL) (SN 5594). Proteomics analyses of blood samples are available under SL SN 9254.Linked Geographical Data (GN 33497): A number of geographical variables are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies. Linked Administrative Data (GN 33396):A number of linked administrative datasets are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies. These include a Deaths dataset (SN 7717) available under SL and the Linked Health Administrative Datasets (SN 8697) available under Secure Access.Multi-omics Data and Risk Scores Data (GN 33592)Proteomics analyses were run on the blood samples collected from NCDS participants in 2002-2004 and are available under SL SN 9254. Metabolomics analyses were conducted on respondents of sweep 10 and are available under SL SN 9411. Polygenic indices are available under SL SN 9439. Derived summary scores have been created that combine the estimated effects of many different genes on a specific trait or characteristic, such as a person's risk of Alzheimer's disease, asthma, substance abuse, or mental health disorders, for example. These scores can be combined with existing survey data to offer a more nuanced understanding of how cohort members' outcomes may be shaped.Additional Sub-Studies (GN 33562):In addition to the main NCDS sweeps, further studies have also been conducted on a range of subjects such as parent migration, unemployment, behavioural studies and respondent essays. The full list of NCDS studies available from the UK Data Service can be found on the NCDS series access data webpage.How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:For information on how to access biomedical data from NCDS that are not held at the UKDS, see the CLS Genetic data and biological samples webpage.Further information about the full NCDS series can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.The National Child Development Study: Age 62, Sweep 10 Geographical Identifiers, 2011 Census Boundaries, 2019-2024: Secure Access data include Age 62, Sweep 10 detailed geographical variables that can be linked to the NCDS Safeguarded and Secure Access studies listed on the NCDS series page. The Age 62, Sweep 10 2021 Census Boundaries are available under SN 9410.International Data Access Network (IDAN)These data are now available to researchers based outside the UK. Selected UKDS SecureLab/controlled datasets from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) have been made available under the International Data Access Network (IDAN) scheme, via a Safe Room access point at one of the UKDS IDAN partners. Prospective users should read the UKDS SecureLab application guide for non-ONS data for researchers outside of the UK via Safe Room Remote Desktop Access. Further details about the IDAN scheme can be found on the UKDS International Data Access Network webpage and on the IDAN website.Main Topics:The National Child Development Study: Age 62, Sweep 10 Geographical Identifiers, 2011 Census Boundaries, 2019-2024: Secure Access data include the address at interview linked to:
CountryDecember 2020 RegionMay 2023 WardJanuary 2003 Census Area Statistics WardApril 2023 Local AuthorityJuly 2024 Westminster Parliamentary ConstituencyIMD Overall Rank England 2019, Scotland 2020, Wales 2019, Northern Ireland 2017IMD Overall Rank Decile2011 Rural-Urban Classification2011 Workplace Zone2011 Output Area2011 Lower Super Output Area2011 Middle Super Output Area2011 Output Area Classification</ul
Harmonised Asthma in the National Child Development Study, 1970 British Cohort Study, Next Steps and Millennium Cohort Study, 1965-2024
No full textAbstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Harmonised Data in Five National Longitudinal Cohort Studies project, supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), brings together data from five British cohort studies: the 1946 National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), the 1958 National Child Development Survey (NCDS), the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), Next Steps (formerly the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England), and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). NCDS, BCS70, Next Steps, and MCS receive core funding from the ESRC and are hosted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL. NSHD is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and is hosted by the Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL.The Asthma Harmonisation project aimed to document all self-reported measures related to asthma in these five British cohort studies and produce harmonised indicators of self-reported asthma through retrospective harmonisation. This harmonisation serves two primary purposes: improving the measurement of asthma (as an outcome, predictor, or control variable) within cohort analyses, and facilitating cross-cohort research on asthma using these rich datasets.Separate longitudinal datasets were created for each cohort, focusing on self-reported data and some measures derived from doctors' reports and medical records. Biomarkers and linked health data were not included. Focus was given to measures that were administered to entire cohorts only and on the asthma status of cohort members themselves (not their parents).Harmonised asthma data for the MRC National Survey of Health and Development are available under Special Licence from SN 9420.Main Topics:The following four data files are included:harmonised_asthma_ncds: harmonised indicators of self-reported asthma in the 1958 NCDS and includes sweep-specific indicators and derived cumulative indicators.harmonised_asthma_bcs: harmonised indicators of self-reported asthma in the 1970 BCS and includes sweep-specific indicators and derived cumulative indicators.harmonised_asthma_nextsteps: Harmonised indicators of self-reported asthma in Next Steps and includes sweep-specific indicators only.harmonised_asthma_mcs: Harmonised indicators of self-reported asthma in MCS and includes sweep-specific indicators and derived cumulative indicators.Individual identifiers are included to enable the harmonised data to be merged with the main cohort study data.</p
GP Patient Survey, 2025
No full textThe 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. In 2025 the survey received responses from around 700,000 adults in England.
In 2025 the fieldwork was conducted from 30 December 2024 to 24 March 2025. The reports and survey materials can be found on the GP Patient Survey website.
Data is currently available nationally, at Integrated Care System (ICS), Primary Care Network (PCN) and GP practice-level. This year data at NHS region level is also available in csv format for the first time. The analysis tool also enables users to look at the survey in more detail (at national, ICS, PCN and practice levels), including running bespoke crosstabulations and viewing comparisons between 2024 and 2025 results.
For more health data see the UK Data Service health theme pages