Specific objectives of this funding opportunity
ADR UK is piloting a new approach to encourage the research use of ADR England flagship datasets (PDF, 1.5MB) in partnership with five co-funders across three themes. ADR England flagship datasets are national administrative datasets with coverage of at least England but potentially other UK nations for example, England and Wales, Great Britain or UK data.
The three community catalyst themes (children at risk of poor outcomes, youth transitions, and evaluation) have been selected to be cross-cutting areas that can use existing ADR England flagship datasets to make a considerable contribution to social science. The themes also offer the opportunity for a collaborative space to open across government departmental and sectoral boundaries and to consider more holistic perspectives on an issue.
It is the shared ambition of all co-funding parties that these awards will develop more self-sustaining, thriving, and well-networked communities of researchers connected with wider stakeholders that have a shared understanding of the gaps and priorities within each theme.
We are offering funding for three community catalyst awards, one for each theme:
- ADR England Research Community Catalyst for Children at Risk of Poor Outcomes (co-funded by What Works for Early Intervention & Children’s Social Care)
- ADR England Research Community Catalyst for Youth Transitions (co-funded by Youth Futures Foundation and The Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education)
- ADR England Research Community Catalyst for Evaluation (co-funded by the Evaluation Task Force and ESRC)
The community catalyst awards share the following objectives. Each objective is expanded upon in both the main funding opportunity specification and each of the three theme-specific annexes. You should read both the main funding opportunity specification and the theme-specific annex to understand the requirements of this funding opportunity.
Objectives
1. Strategic research leadership
Provide a focal point to consolidate the growing body of knowledge around the use of administrative data for research and inform future developments of the programme. This would include:
- mapping and consolidating existing research evidence, applications, concepts and case studies
- coordinating and co-designing a research agenda with key stakeholders that identifies and prioritises research topics using linked administrative data
- mapping accessible data sources that are required to address the research agenda. Research agendas should build upon government departments’ areas of research interest
2. Build capacity fort academic research using administrative data
Develop awareness of and interest, skills and confidence in using linked administrative data in a diverse network of academic administrative data researchers across institutions, career stages and disciplines. This would include supporting researchers to conduct data analyses using administrative datasets and coordinating the development of a training and resources hub.
3. Develop a diverse administrative data research community
To form, facilitate and empower a diverse community of data and research users to build meaningful and sustainable relationships around a shared sense of purpose. The community will come together to exchange knowledge and stimulate opportunities for collaboration. If such a community already exists, then to build upon this foundation.
Stakeholders include policymakers, decision-makers, data users, data owners, practitioners, researchers and others across academia, central and local government, parliament and the third sector (including advocacy groups, non-governmental organisations, charities, etc.). Other priority stakeholders are included in the theme-specific annexes.
4. Address research priorities
Via a delegated research budget as part of this award, provide opportunities for others to conduct small-scale research during the lifetime of this award. This research will increase the use of ADR England linked administrative data via ADR UK trusted research environments, with the aim of creating impactful case studies. This is to address gaps in the research agenda as well as contribute to the capacity building and community development objectives of this opportunity. Due to the different amounts of co-funding and interests of the co-funders, we are trialling two different modes for allocating this delegated research budget.
- The Children at Risk of Poor Outcomes, and the Youth Transitions Community Catalysts will fund ‘embedded fellowships’ supervised by their team to address research priorities.
- The Evaluation Community Catalyst will manage a ‘test and trial fund’ to support demonstration projects and use cases to address public policy evaluation challenges.
Funding
The total funds available for each award, stipulated in the table below, are broken down into a maximum sum for the community catalyst core grant and a maximum sum for the delegated research budget. All figures are at 100% FEC (unindexed) and inclusive of co-funding.
Table 1: maximum sum available by theme (100% FEC – unindexed)
|
Children at risk of poor outcomes |
Youth transitions |
Evaluation |
| Total funds available |
£732,092 |
£672,085 |
£972,122 |
| Community catalyst core grant |
£552,069 |
£552,069 |
£675,085 |
| Delegated research budget |
£180,023 |
£120,015 |
£297,037 |
Please refer to the main funding opportunity specification for a breakdown and detailed description of the:
- community catalyst core grant
- delegated research budget
Outputs and milestones
Given the long-term and ambitious objectives of this funding opportunity, the community catalysts will need to formulate plans to ensure their proposals are deliverable given the time frames and budget. Specific milestones and baseline delivery dates will be approved once the awards have started and following a period of consultation with the steering group (see ‘governance and reporting’). Please see the main funding opportunity specification for the list of priority outputs and milestones.
Governance and reporting
There are two main levels of governance for all ADR England Research Community Catalysts. A monitoring and evaluation group that all members will attend, and a steering group specific to each theme:
1. Monitoring and evaluation group
The monitoring and evaluation group, chaired by ADR UK, will meet every six months and bring together all co-funders and grant holders from all themes plus a couple of key strategic and cross-cutting stakeholders. The three community catalysts will be required to submit a light-touch reporting template to allow the group to hold the awards to account on behalf of all funders (more details provided below under ‘measures of success’). The group will also evaluate the overall effectiveness of the community catalysts in meeting their objectives and support their success by:
- addressing cross-cutting issues
- maximising the potential overlap between themes
- identifying future opportunities, for example, for wider strategic alignment with external activity
2. Community catalysts steering group
Each community catalyst will chair and administer a steering group that will comprise key strategic stakeholders in the sector identified by the co-funders (membership can be influenced by the grant holder too).
The steering group will provide access to senior practice, policy and third sector partners and ensure the community catalysts remain well-aligned with the policy and practice priorities and developments. It is also anticipated that the membership of the steering groups will include third sector stakeholders or advocacy groups to provide a mechanism for public engagement.
These steering groups will be convened two to four times per year and are a key vehicle for the community catalyst teams to consult on the development and delivery of their work plan throughout the award and to embed into the specific context of the theme.
Measures of success
Light touch reporting for all community catalysts will be via the monitoring and evaluation group set out in the ‘governance and reporting’ section. The following measures of success will be monitored during and at the end of the award and grant holders are expected to be able to provide evidence against their progress:
- growth in the number of academic researchers who have the skills to use the data
- durable training and capacity building tools and resources for future use evidence of, or interest, from stakeholders in research co-funding, research collaborations or funding opportunities
- evidence of effective or appropriate collaboration with policy and third sector or public stakeholders
Other relevant key performance indicators that community catalysts will be periodically invited to contribute evidence to, as part of ADR UK’s reporting to its Programme Delivery Board may include:
- case studies aligned to government or public service need
- ADR UK-led (funded) stakeholder engagement events
- academics attending training events organised (funded) by ADR UK to increase knowledge of how to analyse relevant data sources
- evidence that ADR UK-funded research has influenced government or public policy
- Whitehall departments, devolved governments, public service or policy organisations engaged with ADR UK research
- evidence that ADR UK influenced policy has led to positive outcomes for UK citizens
Please read the main funding opportunity specification and the theme-specific annex to understand the full requirements of this funding opportunity.
Projects must start no later than 31 January 2024 and end by 31 March 2026.
