Aim
The aim of this funding is to establish new or support existing communities of practitioners to exchange knowledge, improve working practices and deliver better data services for social science researchers.
Funding will support the creation of collaborative community groups bringing together data service practitioners around common delivery themes, challenges and issues with the aim of identifying how data services can be delivered more effectively.
These groups will provide an opportunity for knowledge exchange and to deliver outputs which will affect real world change.
Through our investment in community groups the following outcomes are expected:
- connected communities of data service professionals who work together to address shared challenges in areas of data service delivery to support the transition to a more federated landscape. This could include, but is not limited to, curation and metadata, data access, data linking, duplication reduction, harmonised approaches, transparency and statistical disclosure control
- improved experiences for researchers, including consistent, easy to understand and efficient journeys for discovering and accessing data
- data owners can more easily deposit their data with data services for onward use by researchers
Detailed delivery objectives of this funding opportunity can be found within the scope section.
This funding opportunity arises out of the Future Data Services (FDS) Review which investigated the challenges for accessing and using data and the opportunities for future data infrastructure provision. This funding opportunity will therefore support the delivery of the FDS recommendations and its vision for the future of data services stated as:
“A seamless, connected, user-centred and federated data service landscape, driven by curiosity, collaboration and coordination, and making use of the new technologies that present boundless possibilities for researchers to use data for public good.”
In line with the FDS review this funding opportunity is agnostic of data types. We encourage applicants with expertise of delivering discovery and access to various data types to submit an application, including quantitative, qualitative, longitudinal and cross-section survey data, smart data, administrative data, consumer loyalty data and other types of data generated and used in the social sciences.
You should clearly outline how your community of practices objectives and work packages contribute to the above aim, the objectives outlined under scope, and more broadly how it will support the realisation of the FDS vision for the future of data services.
By delivering the objectives awards will support the delivery of the UKRI strategy.
Scope
Future Data Services: Joining up the data service workforce will support the realisation of the FDS vision and implementation of the FDS recommendations. This funding opportunity will fund applications to support interaction, knowledge exchange and collaboration amongst practitioners to benefit social science data service infrastructures. Funded applications will identify areas of common challenge to social science data service practitioners and users within the data pipeline and share knowledge before transitioning to become an output focused delivery group to implement effective, real-world solutions.
Funded communities of practice must be comprised of data service practitioners with emphasis on co-design and co-delivery however groups are expected to engage with social science users and data depositors to understand challenges and develop practical solutions.
Additionally, groups are encouraged to seek out and include expertise from alternative sources such as industry, enabling different perspectives to support the creation of solutions to social science data service challenges.
Our objectives for Future Data Services community groups are to support collaboration and interaction amongst practitioners throughout the data services landscape by:
- bringing together communities of data service practitioners around community identified challenges. Championing data service practitioners’ participation within cross-data service activities to build a wider community foundation
- enabling data service practitioners to exchange knowledge about what they do within their respective infrastructure
- understand aligned objectives, advance best practice and share new developments and opportunities for improvement
- supporting data service practitioners to identify where equivalent functions within existing social science data service infrastructures could convene and coordinate delivery of services
- identifying ways that data services can be more effectively delivered and to create outputs which can make this a reality
- embedding learning and outputs within existing data service infrastructures to ensure long term sustainability
Applications are expected to address each objective. Activities, timelines and outputs must be feasible within the resource available.
Proposed activity must not duplicate existing community groups but should improve existing activities or create new communities to resolve challenges experienced by data service practitioners, social science researchers, users and data depositors in their journey.
You must be able to demonstrate clearly that the challenge you have identified is not addressed by existing resources and that your community of practice includes data service practitioners.
Community groups should ensure they have identified appropriate gaps and to de-complexify the landscape. Examples include:
- harmonisation and consistency in documentation and data linking, metadata standards and development, common vocabularies, sharing practices and statistical disclosure control
- transparent data access pathways
- effective user support
- safe implementation of AI in data services
- effective policy engagement and knowledge mobilisation
- standards and interoperability to achieve federated data discovery
The challenges and gaps outlined above are not an exhaustive list. You are encouraged to think about all challenges including, but not limited to those already identified above which will benefit from having a community of practice. Each community of practice should support one gap.
Within your application you should clearly demonstrate the need for a data service practitioners community group, identify the challenge you are trying to understand and resolve, state the outputs you will produce and clearly articulate how these will drive real world change.
With common challenges experienced by practitioners across the social science data service infrastructure landscape, we encourage interested applicants to apply as a small group or consortium to reflect the vision for a federated data service landscape and tackle common challenges through co-design and co-delivery.
Delivery plan
All successful applications will be required to create and submit a delivery plan, for agreement and regular discussion with us, within the first two months of the award.
Details which support the creation of your delivery plan should be included within your application for assessment. The application questions provided will support you to include as part of your final plan these are:
- the scope of your work and the challenge the community of practice will address
- how your community of practice is different from other resources/groups already in place
- a theory of change
- objectives and outcomes – focused areas of investigation, knowledge exchange, solution identification and output development
- community group operation– dedicated work packages including a high-level implementation plan outlining how you will transition to a delivery focused group
- adoption, implementation and legacy – how your learning and outputs will be embedded within existing social science data service infrastructures, realise change, and be sustainable
- risk management – identification and mitigation
- timeline for delivery
You should demonstrate why the proposed approach is the most effective and valuable way of delivering to meet the needs of the social science research and user community.
Successful applicants must have the capability and resource to deliver the community of practice.
Collaboration and engagement
Collaboration refers to the activity which creates, enables and maintains connections between researchers, policymakers, organisations, infrastructures and communities to maximise impact and innovation.
Engagement is the mechanisms you use and actions you take to realise and share your intended collaborative outputs and impacts of the community of practice.
Collaboration and engagement are essential at all stages of the community of practice.
Collaboration across the data services landscape is key to deliver a seamless, connected, user-centred and federated data service landscape, driven by a ‘whole system’ outlook which enables our data infrastructure investments to connect and co-deliver consistent and improved service to help researchers.
Although there are examples of collaboration, the FDS review noted the need for data services to interconnect with each other more often, for example, to overcome the challenges such as variation in processes or quality of metadata, that researchers face when they interact with different data services to access different data. This creates a burden on their time and research productivity.
The FDS review also highlighted the importance of co-design, whereby data services are designed with researchers by default. Communities of practice therefore must engage with the external user and research community throughout their work to understand and anticipate their needs and ensure enhancements support the intended impact for the community on how they discover, access and use data.
Communities of practice should clearly articulate their engagement plans for development and delivery.
This funding is designed to foster collaboration, co-design, co-creation and co-delivery of projects that will support a more effective and efficient federated data service landscape, reducing the bureaucracy experienced by researchers when accessing and using data services and ensuring services meet community needs.
Supporting collaboration and engagement through each award brings us closer to accomplishing our vision of a federated data landscape designed with researchers by default.
We encourage interested applicants to apply as a small group or consortium to reflect the vision of a federated data service landscape and to enable innovative collaborations that address common challenges across data service infrastructures.
Through engagement in workshops, we are aware of various challenges and barriers to federation and have in turn identified four principles which ultimately address these challenges these are:
- culture: collaboration and trust
- working in collaboration: co-design, co-deliver and co-create
- adherence to best practice and standards
- removal of burden for researchers
You are encouraged to consider how these can be supported and implemented in the development of your application.
This funding opportunity and associated FDS opportunities (Future data services sandpit: transforming discovery and access) are being funded as a programme.
Successful communities of practice will be expected to engage and collaborate with each other, ESRC-supported data infrastructures, other FDS funded projects and the wider social science community including users where activities and learning may overlap and where this can add value.
Successful communities of practice will outline collaborations and related benefits.
Investment monitoring
We will set out monitoring and reporting requirements in the terms and conditions of the award.
Award holders will be required to produce a finalised delivery plan within two months of the start of the award, for agreement and regular discussion with us.
Award holders will be expected to provide us with a short, written, six-monthly update on activities, including risk, progress, and where applicable impact. More frequent updates will be expected on important activities, risks and major changes if they present a risk to meeting objectives. Data will also be collected on outcomes.
We will assign an investment manager as a lead contact for the award programme.
Contact will include:
- a twice-yearly meeting between ESRC and the project lead, as well as other members of the team where appropriate
- an annual meeting with all successful FDS: Joining up the data service workforce teams
Applications should include sufficient time for project leads and (where relevant) co-leads to meet these monitoring requirements as well as any other additional governance arrangements they see fit.
Applications must comply with the ESRC research funding guide.
For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.
Duration
The duration of this award is 42 months.
Projects must start on 1 October 2027. Projects must end by 31 March 2031.
Funding available
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £280,000.
ESRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
What we will fund
We seek to support applications that:
- enable co-created, co-designed and co-delivered communities of practice which support social science data service practitioners to identify and resolve common challenges and deliver change
- facilitate data service practitioners, social science researchers, users and data depositors to share, understand and contribute to lasting change
- allow social science data service practitioners to exchange knowledge, working practices and standards to better identify and solve shared challenges
- support the sharing of knowledge and resources which enable social science data service practitioners to learn new skills and advance their career development opportunities
- support innovative and ambitious collaborations with data service practitioners to deliver outputs which result in positive change
What we will not fund
We will not fund:
- the creation of new infrastructure – data collection or service
- work that duplicates existing data infrastructure services, functionalities and communities of practice
- work conducted in isolation and that does not enhance existing ESRC Data Service Infrastructures
- creation of new datasets
- standard research projects
- writing up previous research
- preparation of books and publications
- literature surveys
- general conference attendance that is not related to conducting the proposed work
- studentships
- new tools and services that are already supported by plans for adoption by ESRC social science data service infrastructures (including ‘pilot’ projects and the Future data services: transforming discovery and access sandpit)
Supporting skills and talent
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has a long-standing and continuing commitment to supporting and enabling safe and effective collaboration in research and innovation. UKRI is equally committed to ensuring that this takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.
Our Principles and expectations set out the principles that UKRI applies to TR&I and our general expectations of the research organisations (including businesses, research institutes, and research technical organisations) that we support. Organisations supported by UKRI should be able to provide evidence that their internal controls and processes meet these expectations.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.
Data requirements
We recognise that though data may not be generated from this funding opportunity, data management should be considered to ensure transparency on how data will be used such as to develop, test and implement ideas.
Data generated, collected or acquired by ESRC-funded research must be well-managed by the grant holder to enable their data to be exploited to the maximum potential for further research. See our research data policy for details and further information on data requirements. The requirements of the research data policy are a condition of ESRC research funding.
Where relevant, details on data management and sharing should be provided in the Data Management section. See the importance of managing and sharing data and content for inclusion in a data management plan on the UK Data Service (UKDS) website for further guidance. We expect you to provide a summary of the points provided. The UKDS [email: datasharing@ukdataservice.ac.uk] will be pleased to advise applicants on the availability of data within the academic community and provide advice on data deposit requirements.
Impact, innovation and interdisciplinarity
We expect applicants to consider the potential scientific, societal and economic impacts of their research. Outputs, dissemination and impact are a key part of the criteria for most expert review and assessment processes. We also encourage applications that demonstrate innovation and interdisciplinarity (research combining approaches from more than one discipline).
Research ethics
We require that the research we support is designed and conducted in such a way that it meets ethical principles and is subject to proper professional and institutional oversight in terms of research governance. We have agreed a Framework for Research Ethics that all submitted proposals must comply with. Read further details about the Framework for Research Ethics and guidance on compliance.
