New ESRC report lays out roadmap for the future or data services

The report includes a case study of the Connect 4 project, a collaborative project  investigating the federation of data services across the UK’s four national Trusted Research Environments (TRE). This project was led by EPCC with input from Research Data Scotland and many of our partner organisations.

Professor Roger Halliday, CEO of RDS said: “There are so many dedicated and passionate people within data services across the UK working hard to ensure vital research can take place. But without federation, opportunities are lost.

“ESRC’s intention to support and invest in data structure to build a federated, ‘whole system’ approach is incredibly welcome. We already know from the Connect 4 project, featured in the report, how a federated approach to data access could make it easier for researchers to access data across different trusted research environments. Through federation, we can collectively make the most of our data for the benefit of people across the four nations.” 

A collaborative approach

As part of the report process, ESRC reviewed its data service infrastructures to ensure they meet the challenges of the rapidly evolving technological landscape.

ESRC consulted extensively with researchers, data professionals, data owners and technical experts to create a set of recommendations that will aid the delivery of seamless, connected and researcher-centred data services in the UK.

The recommendations were based on five guiding principles ESRC have identified as essential to transforming how data services operate:

•      Co-design: Data services designed with researchers by default
  
  
•      Co-deliver: Services that collaborate and 'join the dots'
  
  
•      Invest in people: Building expertise in data and research
  
  
•      Shift the culture: Focus on delivering better research outcomes
  
  
•      Talk to the public: Confidently explaining why data and data infrastructures matter

Following on from the report publication, the next steps for ESRC will be to support its data infrastructure investments to achieve a ‘federated data services landscape’ by helping teams to connect and co-deliver consistent and improved services.

Read the report

You can read the full report here.

Further information

See Future data services – UKRI for more information and project updates.