adr uk research fellowships 2023

Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK Research Fellowships

For us to meet this deadline, please email the Research Facilitation Team at an early stage

Supported by

ADR (Administrative Data Research) UK invites applications for Research Fellowships to conduct research and analysis demonstrating the policy-impact potential of ADR England flagship datasets. The eligible list of datasets is contained within our  ADR England Flagship Datasets brochure.

Researchers new to using administrative data are encouraged to apply.

Researchers can apply for a fellowship grant of 18 months in duration, up to a maximum of £175,000 per annum at 100% full economic cost (FEC). Economic and Social Research Council will fund 80% of the full economic cost.

This ADR UK Research Fellowship is up to 18 months in total including a dedicated funded period of up to three months at the end of the research phase for the fellow to focus on impact and development opportunities.

Please check the  PI eligibility policy

For more information please contact the Research Facilitation Team at  [email protected]

QS WORLD RANKINGS FOR POLITICS & INT’L STUDIES: 2

BEST UK UNIVERSITIES FOR POLITICS – THE GUARDIAN: 1

THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS FOR POLITICS AND INT’L STUDIES: 1 IN THE UK

Black British Academics

Applications invited for ADR UK Research Fellowships

Adr uk (administrative data research uk) is  inviting applications for funding  to conduct policy-relevant research using adr england flagship datasets. applications now closed., about the scheme research fellows will address priority research questions, generate insights and demonstrate the value of adr england data. these datasets are held securely within the office for national statistics (ons) secure research service or other trusted research environments. these adr uk research fellowships can be up to 18 months in duration, and up to a maximum of £175,000 at 100% full economic cost. adr uk will fund 80% full economic costs in line with the funding policy of the economic and social research council (esrc). the deadline to apply for these fellowships is 16:00 on 10 october 2023.   read the funding opportunity announcement for the full details ., eligibility early career researchers and researchers new to administrative data are encouraged to apply. if that applies to you, you should include strong mentoring and/or capacity building plans as part of your fellowship to support your research goals. adr uk is running a pilot mentoring scheme to support applicants with this funding opportunity. find out how we can support you to find a suitable mentor . we welcome proposals from individual researchers from eligible research organisations, in line with esrc’s standard eligibility criteria. see the esrc research funding guide for further details..

About the Data

Administrative data is information created when people interact with public services, such as schools, the nhs, the courts or the benefits system, and collected by government. this wealth of data has the potential to create important knowledge, providing powerful insights into our society and in turn pointing to areas where change is needed. find out more about administrative data ., applicants must use adr england flagship datasets for the fellowship. you can find an overview of these datasets in the  adr england flagship datasets brochure ., this funding opportunity includes ringfenced funding for one fellowship using each of the following priority datasets., education and child health insights from linked data (echild) – england: the echild research database includes linked health, education and social care data for around 20 million children born from 1984 onwards. it can be used to better understand how education affects children’s health and how health affects children’s education., ministry of justice data first: cross-justice system – england and wales: data first is an ambitious data-linking, sharing and research programme led by the ministry of justice (moj) and funded by adr uk. the latest release from data first is the creation of a cross-justice system linked dataset. this new linked dataset brings together data from the civil and family courts with different areas of the criminal justice system for the first time. the dataset provides researchers with a unique opportunity to study interactions across the justice system, and to deliver vital evidence on individual journeys across the justice system., all other adr england flagship datasets are also in scope for this funding opportunity – you can find out more about them in the adr england flagship datasets brochure. these include:, longitudinal education outcomes – england, growing up in england, grading and admissions data for england, annual survey of hours and earnings linked to 2011 census – england and wales, data first: family court linked to cafcass and census 2021 – england and wales, ministry of justice & department for education linked dataset – england., for some of these datasets, we have agreed research priorities specific to these research fellowships. you can also watch recorded webinars to find out more about some of these datasets in support of your application. visit the funding opportunity announcement to access these resources., adr uk is a partnership transforming the way researchers access the uk’s wealth of public sector data, to enable better informed policy decisions that improve people’s lives. adr uk is funded by the economic and social research council, part of uk research and innovation., how to apply to decide whether these research fellowships are right for you, read more about the opportunity on adr uk’s website . here you’ll find resources including a brochure of adr england flagship datasets; research priorities for this opportunity; and recorded webinars about the opportunity, several of the datasets in scope, and how to write a strong application. when you’re ready to apply, visit the uk research and innovation funding finder ., the deadline to apply for these fellowships is 16:00 on 10 october 2023..

• ← Imperial College London launches its Research Fellowship Scheme
• Applications invited for a Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University of London →

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UKRI Policy Fellowships 2023

Opportunity to be part of the reform programme at the heart of government, to drive a step change in evaluation and improving outcomes for the public.

The Evaluation Task Force is offering opportunities for two placements, in collaboration with UKRI.

Data and Evaluation Policy Fellowship

Design and Knowledge Translation Fellowship

UKRI Policy Fellowships

The UKRI Policy Fellowships scheme led by ESRC in partnership with ADR-UK, AHRC & BBSRC, has announced 49 UKRI Policy Fellowships . Fellowship opportunities will be based with a host in 1 of 27 different UK government departments, devolved governments and What Works Centres.

The UKRI Policy Fellowships are designed to improve the exchange of specialist knowledge between academic institutions and policy, facilitating deeper, more enduring connections between researchers and policymakers.

These exciting opportunities will allow fellows to undertake cutting-edge research and inform decision-making on the most pressing policy problems of our time. The fellowships aim to support career development and enhance fellows understanding of applying research in government contexts. All fellows will become part of a cohort of academic researchers and receive training, mentoring and networking opportunities with like-minded individuals.

Fellowship opportunities will be organised around the UKRI strategic themes, which address national and global challenges, with an additional cross-cutting theme looking at data and evaluation. The strategic themes are:

• data and evaluation
• building a green future
• ageing and wellbeing
• tackling infections
• building a secure and resilient world
• creating opportunities, improving outcomes

All fellowship opportunities are 18 months in duration and open to applications from researchers based at an organisation eligible for UKRI funding.

Depending on the fellowship, researchers will be in the economic and social sciences, arts and humanities or biotechnology and biological sciences; or be able to demonstrate the generation of interdisciplinary insights by combining these disciplines with other recognised academic disciplines.

Full details can be found at UKRI policy fellowships 2023 .

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ADR UK research fellowships 2024

Faculty EOI: 2 April 2024

Funder Deadlines: 30 April 2024

Apply for funding to conduct research and analysis demonstrating the policy impact potential of key Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) flagship datasets.

The ADR's flagship datasets are:

• Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data – England
• Longitudinal Education Outcomes - England
• Growing Up in England
• Grading and Admissions Data for England
• Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings linked to 2011 Census - England and Wales
• Data First 

The Data First datasets are likely of particular interest to potential Law applicants, as they include Ministry of Justice datasets, including Cross-Justice System - England and Wales, Family Court (Cafcass and Census 2021, England and Wales), and Ministry of Justice/Department for Education linked datasets. 

An example of a webinar on how to write a successful fellowship application can be found here . There will also be an opportunity briefing for the Fellowship scheme on  Monday 4 March 2024 midday to 1:00pm UK time  and a Data First Cross-Justice System update – Offender Assessment dataset on  Tuesday 5 March 2024 midday to 1:00pm UK time .

Eligibility

Researchers must be based at a UKRI-eligible research institution. Early career researchers must secure an in-house mentor for their application. Researchers on fixed term contracts are eligible to apply if their institutions are willing to extend their contracts to cover the period of the fellowship. Unless a job share is being proposed, a time commitment of at least 0.6 full-time equivalent for the core research phase will be expected of awardees.

Duration and Value

The full economic cost of fellowship can be up to £200,000. ESRC and ADR UK will fund 80% of the full economic cost. Funding is available for up to 18 months. Projects must start by 15 October 2024.

How to Apply

Full applications must be submitted via the UKRI's new Funding Service  by 16:00 30 April 2024 (Research Services deadline: 23 April 2024). Expressions of interest should be submitted to [email protected] by 2 April 2024.

On this page

Related information, related websites.

Funding opportunity: UKRI policy fellowships 2023

Apply for funding to collaborate with a UK or devolved government host or What Works Network centre on research activity to address pressing national and global challenges.

• co-design research with the host organisation to inform policy on a priority area
• help improve the exchange of knowledge between policy and academic institutions
• be based at an organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding
• have a PhD or equivalent experience

For fellowships with a Whitehall or devolved administration host the full economic cost (FEC) is £170,000. For fellowships with a What Works Network host the FEC is £210,000.

UKRI will fund 80% FEC.

Please note applicants for What Works innovation fellowships should refer to the specific guidance under ‘How to apply: What Works innovation fellowships’. Applicants for all other fellowships should follow the guidance under ‘How to apply: UKRI policy fellowships, government host’.

UKRI held a webinar on 14 March 2023 for this funding opportunity. The webinar includes an insight from a current fellow, presentations from representative host departments, a how to apply section and question and answers. Slides and a frequently asked questions document are also available by emailing [email protected] . Watch webinar recording on YouTube .

Who can apply

This funding opportunity is open to academics who hold a PhD or equivalent research experience. As well as relevant subject matter or methodological expertise, experience of working in a policy and knowledge exchange context is beneficial.

Policy fellowship funding opportunities with a UK or devolved government host are aimed at early to mid-career academics.

Fellowships with a What Works Network centre host are open to all career stages.

Please refer to fellowship funding opportunity specifications for detailed eligibility requirements.

Please see the full list of specific fellowship funding opportunities in ‘additional information’ section. These include:

• an overview of the proposed research areas and policy challenges that the fellowship will focus on
• the person specification for each fellowship
• any relevant eligibility criteria, including any security clearance requirements

You must ensure that you are able to meet these requirements before submitting an application.

Person specification

• depending on the funding opportunity, be either a researcher in the economic and social sciences, the arts and humanities or in the biotechnology and biological sciences. Or be able to demonstrate how you could generate interdisciplinary insights through combining these disciplines with other recognised academic disciplines. Please see the fellowship funding opportunity specification for more details on eligibility
• be based at an eligible UKRI research organisation
• hold a PhD or equivalent research experience
• meet any additional eligibility and person specification criteria for each fellowship funding opportunity you are applying for (see ‘additional information’)
• have subject matter and analytical expertise and skills relevant to the specific fellowship you are applying for (see ‘additional information’)
• be able to work effectively at pace to deliver expected outcomes, including working as part of a team on shared goals
• have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into meaningful narrative that is accessible to a non-academic audience

In addition, we welcome applications from individuals who can demonstrate:

• excellent stakeholder engagement and collaboration skills
• insight into working in a governmental context
• the ability to design and lead on knowledge exchange activity between research, policy and funder communities

Requirements

Fellows will be required to:

• sign a fellowship agreement between UKRI (the funder), the government or What Works Network host (the partner) and the relevant research organisation (the employer)
• meet the security checks and other clearance and declaration of interest processes required by the host (see specific opportunity descriptions)
• observe the provisions of the civil service code (GOV.UK) and the Official Secrets Act 1989 when hosted by a government department or other public body
• complete a ‘conflict of interest’ form before being appointed

Fellowship agreements

Please find exemplar fellowship agreements for UK and devolved government funding opportunities and What Works Network funding opportunities under the ‘additional information’ section.

We advise potential applicants and their research organisations to review the relevant template in advance of submitting an application to this funding opportunity. A final version will need to be signed before the fellowship can commence.

Please note there will be a final version of the fellowship agreement developed for each funding opportunity. These may incorporate minor changes from the exemplar including conditions and requirements specific to the host and the particular fellowship funding opportunity.

Attendance and location

Attendance and location requirements are set out in the specific descriptions of each funding opportunity in ‘additional information’.

In addition, fellows will be expected to undertake and travel for knowledge exchange activities and will be asked to attend events with the wider UKRI policy fellow cohort. Not all these activities can be planned in advance of starting the fellowship.

By applying to the fellowship, you are acknowledging and agreeing to this possibility of additional travel.

Mentorship support

The applicant’s research organisation must:

• generic project development
• engagement and dissemination support
• project-specific thematic, methodological or data support (if necessary). See ‘what we’re looking for’

Please note that applicants are required to demonstrate that they hold a PhD or equivalent experience. This is to extend eligibility to individuals who have been in a research focused role for a substantial period but have not obtained a PhD.

Being enrolled in a PhD programme or close to finalising one is not sufficient on its own to demonstrate equivalence.

Applicants who wish to make a case for equivalency will need to demonstrate that they have achieved a postdoctoral level of research expertise and experience while working in a professional research role. This is whether or not they are also engaged in a PhD programme. They should demonstrate this through their case for support.

Definitions of early and mid-career researchers

Please note that for the purposes of this funding opportunity we will be using the following definitions of early and mid-career researchers.

Early career research (ECR)

ECR status is not exclusively based on time and is inclusive of people with different career paths and trajectories. You should articulate in your case for support why you believe ECR status applies to you.

UKRI uses the guideline that an ECR is someone who has yet to make the transition to be an independent researcher. Where an independent researcher has submitted their own proposal and taken on the role of principal investigator.

Mid-career research

For the purposes of this funding opportunity, mid-career academics are considered to be researchers who have:

• already published works of intellectual distinction
• established a significant track record as an excellent communicator and ‘champion’ in their field

Equality and diversity

UKRI welcomes applications from all sections of the community, in accordance with the Equality Act .

We are committed to supporting the research community in the diverse ways a career can be built with our investments including:

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

We encourage applicants to read our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy .

Applicant webinar

UKRI held a webinar on 14 March 2023 for this funding opportunity. The webinar includes:

• an insight from a current fellow
• presentations from representative host departments
• a how to apply section
• question and answers

Slides and a frequently asked questions document are also available by emailing [email protected]

Watch webinar recording on YouTube .

What we're looking for

Apply for funding for 18 months as an UKRI policy fellow to:

• be embedded in a UK or devolved government host organisation or What Works Network member
• collaborate on research activity to address pressing national and global challenges

Addressing the challenges and opportunities facing citizens, society and the economy requires an integrated, thriving and inclusive research-policy system that can act as a catalyst for innovation, social and institutional change. Central to this is enabling researchers and policymakers to collaborate and build relationships that are rich, deep and can be sustained.

Opportunities that help people move between research and policy communities to share and develop their knowledge and capabilities are a key mechanism to help develop this collaborative, connected system.

ESRC, in partnership with ADR UK, AHRC, BBSRC and UKRI and a range of government hosts and What Works Network members, wishes to fund a cohort of policy fellows. Fellows will provide research and expert advice on the host’s policy priority areas, and support wider knowledge exchange between government and academia.

This high-profile initiative provides a route for you to bring your expertise to bear on critical policy challenges at the heart of government across the UK. As well as to generate new insights into how to best support effective collaboration and knowledge exchange that will shape your career as well as support wider change.

These fellowships are demanding and intellectually stimulating roles, providing an exciting opportunity to combine your specialist knowledge and research expertise with the opportunity to inform decision-makers at the heart of policymaking.

In total this funding opportunity offers 49 fellowship funding opportunities across a wide range of government partners and the devolved administrations, including:

Government hosts

Cabinet office.

• Competition and Markets Authority
• Department for Business and Trade
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport
• Department for Education
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
• Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)

• Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Department for Transport
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Department of Health and Social Care

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Hm treasury, home office.

• Ministry of Justice
• National Infrastructure Commission
• No10 Data Science Team

Scottish Government

Welsh government.

• Northern Ireland Executive

What Works Network hosts

Centre for homelessness impact, college of policing, education endowment foundation, wales centre for public policy.

• Youth Futures Foundation

Role of fellows

Fellows will be uniquely positioned to:

• provide research and expert advice on the host’s policy priority areas, including co-designing and delivering research projects and activities
• engage in knowledge exchange activities across government and academia
• join a cohort of fellows to build longer-term networks across research and policy
• build lasting connections between the policymaking and research communities
• generate and share new knowledge and insights on effective policy collaboration with the wider research community and with funders of this funding opportunity

For full details about each fellowship available, see the documents in ‘additional information’.

UKRI strategic themes

The fellowship cohort will be organised around the UKRI strategic themes and data and evaluation.

Please find more detail on UKRI themes under objective 5: world-class impacts in the UKRI strategy 2022 to 2027 .

Data and evaluation: this is an addition to the UKRI themes. It reflects ESRC, AHRC, ADR UK and BBSRC’s interest in supporting exceptional data-driven and evaluation research, ensuring that decision makers have access to robust social science data and cutting edge evaluation.

Objectives and expectations of fellows

Fellows will:

• scope and lead research-related activity with the host
• work closely with hosts to ensure alignment of priorities and that analysis is as robust and useful as possible in driving decisions
• provide advice and peer review to other aspects of the host’s work
• support capability building within host in your area of expertise
• connecting with related UKRI research portfolios, acting as a pipeline for knowledge exchange between them and hosts
• publishing outputs from analysis produced, subject to clearance processes
• knowledge exchange activities with academic institutions and other analytical and policy teams within government and intermediaries
• supporting hosts and funders of this funding opportunity in the evaluation of the fellowship programme and improvement of future schemes

Benefits for fellows

The UKRI policy fellowship scheme offers an exciting opportunity to develop your career and enhance your understanding of applying research in government contexts.

As a successful fellow, your benefits will include:

• opportunity to undertake cutting edge research, enhance knowledge and potentially access new and novel data
• opportunity to inform decision-making on the most pressing policy problems of our time
• a better understanding of government analysis, operations, policymaking, data usage, and priority areas for research
• ability to build your network of policy and analytical professionals within government and across the What Works Network
• opportunity to join a cohort of academic researchers across government working to address complex policy questions across and with government
• potential to influence future policy-academia collaborations
• opportunity for publication across policy and academia, subject to clearance processes

During your placement you will have line management and support from the host organisation, and throughout your fellowship you will also regularly engage with and receive support from UKRI.

In addition, if you are an early career researcher you will benefit from funded mentorship support from a more senior researcher in your organisation.

Funding available

For policy fellowships with a government host the FEC is £170,000. This is inclusive of funding of up to £15,000 to support:

• additional placement-specific travel and subsistence costs
• placement-specific mentorship
• specific training requirements that are identified during the fellowship (including the inception phase)

For policy fellowships with What Works Network members, the FEC is £210,000 (inclusive of additional £40,000 budget for research and collaboration costs).

What Works innovation fellowships have been allocated a maximum budget of £40,000 per fellowship to cover additional research and collaboration costs in acknowledgement of additional co-production, collaboration and research needs within the fellowship.

These fellowships are available on either a full-time or part-time basis. Please see funding opportunity descriptions in the ‘additional information’ section for full details.

Fellowship duration and phases

Your fellowship award will last 18 months and cover:

• inception phase for project set up, up to 3 months
• main placement with host, 12 months
• knowledge exchange phase, up to 3 months

What you’ll be doing

Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities.

If successful, during the inception stage of the fellowship, you will work with your host to refine the focus and priorities for your placement. Alongside these specific activities, during your placement you will also engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers.

You will also be supported to network and collaborate with fellows in other host departments and What Works Network members, and to connect with relevant research communities. You will have dedicated time within the placement with the host reserved for activities that strengthen engagement between policy and academia, and for engagement with the UKRI’s policy fellow cohort.

Fellows will also be supported for an additional period after the main placement of 3 months to complete agreed knowledge exchange, publication and impact activity.

Inception phase

The inception phase is expected to commence between October and December 2023 and be used:

• to co-produce your final fellowship scope, project and planned activities with your host
• for other preliminary activity required to support this such as data access
• for induction into the policy fellows’ cohort and training programme
• completing any necessary onboarding and induction process with your host department and finalising security clearance

Your expected time commitment during this period is up to 0.4 full-time equivalent (FTE). During this period, you will remain based at your home institution but will join in-person or virtual inception meetings with your host and UKRI.

Please note there is more linked administrative data securely accessible for research than ever before. Where relevant we would encourage applicants and hosts to consider whether the use of these new research resources could add value to the project. Please find more details in ADR UK’s brochure (PDF, 1.1MB) , an accessible document to understand what data is currently available and the potential of this data.

Placement with hosts

All fellows are expected to start the main placement with their host after the 3-month inception phase and once the project scope has been agreed. You can undertake this placement full or part time (0.6 FTE minimum) for 12 months. See ‘additional information’ for FTE expectations in relation to specific funding opportunities.

During the main placement phase your activities might include:

• scoping and leading research-related activity with the host
• providing advice and peer review to other aspects of the host’s work
• supporting capability building within host department in your area of expertise
• strengthening engagement between government and academia

Line management and support will be provided by the host and each host will have their specific requirements with regard to place of work (see fellowship funding opportunity descriptions).

During this period, you will also be expected to take up opportunities for connection with UKRI and the wider cohort of fellows.

Knowledge exchange phase

After the placement completes you will return to your home institution and will be supported for up to 3 months to:

• maximise knowledge exchange and impact through agreed wider engagement and publication activity
• share learnings about engaging and influencing policymakers with the wider academic community

Your expected time commitment during this period is up to 0.4 FTE. Your plan for activities for this period will be further defined and agreed with your host and UKRI.

During this period, you will continue to be expected to take up opportunities for connection with UKRI and the wider cohort of fellows. After your fellowship award completes, you will join an alumni network to support ongoing opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange.

Outputs and reporting

You will be expected to produce outputs for academic and non-academic audiences based on your work as agreed during the inception phase.

Please note that in some cases published outputs will be subject to clearance by your host, but that all hosts are committed to supporting opportunities for fellows to publish as part of this fellowship.

In addition to standard UKRI reporting requirements, you may also be asked to submit additional information to support wider UKRI strategic objectives and scheme evaluation.

What current policy fellows say

The current cohort are well embedded within their government functions and are having real impact on important policy areas.

Rowena Hill, ESRC policy fellow on climate change to DLUHC says:

The policy fellowship has been revolutionary to inform my understanding of how research and evidence can inform policy. The project work I have been involved in across the department has been highly beneficial to demonstrate to me how my work can make a difference at different points of policy development. Alongside my project work I have been fortunate to share in discussions when significant areas of policy were built. To see how this is achieved, has been pivotal in how I plan my future career aspirations, and has already made clear difference to the knowledge transfer or demonstration and pull through phases of projects I have designed outside of the policy fellowship. It’s been a highly significant phase of my career to date and I have already seen demonstrable benefits halfway through the scheduled lifetime of the fellowship.

Daniel Haines, AHRC-FCDO fellowship says:

My fellowship has embedded me with one of FCDO’s geographical research groups, working inside the fast-paced policy process. The role has given me the rare opportunity to explore contemporary foreign policy issues well outside my academic specialism, while using my expertise on South Asian history to brief policymakers on the lessons that history yields for present-day decision-making. The work is an enjoyable challenge and FCDO has been a wonderfully supportive environment.

How to apply

Proposals are invited via the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system attracting the standard 80% FEC funding model.

This guidance is specific to this scheme and should be used in conjunction with the following information:

• ESRC research funding guide
• UKRI guidance on how to write a good application

Je-S help text is available in every page of your Je-S form, simply select the question mark against any section (or on the word ‘Help’ in the top right-hand corner of each page).

Important: where information and guidance issued on this web page differs from the general guidance offered in these sources, you should adhere to the guidance on this web page.

All proposals under this funding opportunity must be completed and submitted through the Je-S system. To be able to do this the organisation must be registered for Je-S, and the applicants must hold Je-S accounts.

UK higher education institutions and some other independent UK research organisations (including public sector research establishments) are already recognised institutions on Je-S. A list of these organisations is available on: check if you are eligible for research and innovation funding .

Je-S accounts for applicants

All fellows must have created a ‘fellowship’ Je-S account.

If you already have a Je-S account, you can contact the Je-S Helpdesk to ask them to upgrade it to a fellowship account.

If you do not already have a Je-S account, please create a ‘fellowship’ account.

Please refer to the Je-S help text if setting up a new account.

Please note that the deadline for research organisation submission of proposals is 20 April 2023 at 4:00pm UK time. You should allow sufficient time for completion of the research organisation submission process checks and authorisation.

Organisation internal submission structure

It is recommended that applicants forward their proposal to the organisation submitter pool in good time before the funding deadline to allow a sufficient period for the approval and final submission process.

The proposal must be ‘submitted’ through the Je-S system to UKRI by the institution’s nominated contacts. Once the applicant completes and submits the proposal, notification is then sent to their organisation’s ‘submitter’ to action. The ‘submitter’ is the person in that organisation authorised to approve the proposal and do the final stage of submission.

The applicant will receive an email confirming that the proposal has been submitted to the submitter pool. This means the proposal is still with the organisation but is not yet submitted to the research council.

The final submission process is the responsibility of the host institution, and we cannot accept responsibility for any delay which may occur at this stage. We strongly advise applicants to check that they receive an email confirmation from the Je-S system confirming that the proposal has been submitted to UKRI.

Use of your personal information

UKRI capture and process personal information in line with current data protection legislation; General Data Protection Regulation and any amendments by the UK Data Protection Bill or relevant acts of parliament.

Creating your proposal

To create your proposal:

• log in to Je-S
• from the home screen, select ‘Documents’, then select ‘New Document’
• on the ‘Add new document’ screen, select ‘Call search’ (highlighted at top of screen)
• when prompted type in the funding opportunity title: UKRI Policy Fellowships 2023 and select from the list created
• the remaining 3 selection fields will be automatically populated
• select the ‘Create Document’ button

When applying select:

• council: ESRC (please select ESRC regardless of the council leading on the funding opportunity applied for)
• document type: Fellowship
• scheme: Research Fellowship
• call/type/mode: UKRI Policy Fellowships 2023

Please note that it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the proposal document is created and submitted against the correct funding opportunity (and consequently correct scheme).

We will not accept proposals for processing that are not submitted using the correct funding opportunity route.

How to apply: UKRI policy fellowships, government host

Project details.

Select organisation and department from drop-down lists (for example, the research organisation where the fellowship will be held).

‘Your Reference’ should be supplied by your research organisation (consult your research office). If your administration office does not have a system for referencing grant proposals, a suitable reference of your own choice will be acceptable.

Use ‘Your reference’ to help distinguish easily between proposals in users’ current documents lists.

The reference is intended to be a unique identifier for the proposal and is unrelated to the reference that the organisation would be asked to provide if a grant were awarded.

Enter project title (maximum limit of 150 characters). Your project title must be ‘[Opportunity Title] UKRI Policy Fellowship’. For example, MoJ Data and Evaluation UKRI Policy Fellowship. Please note that each funding opportunity has a fellowship title indicated at the top of the funding opportunity description. Please use this at the beginning of your project title.

For ‘Proposal Call’, select UKRI Policy Fellowships 2023. Please note that the option will only be available once the funding opportunity is live (this may have already been pre-populated into the form).

Your start date should not be before 1 October 2023. Your grant should be a proposed duration of no more than 18 months. Please make sure the start date and duration is in line with the required start of the inception phase and duration of the core placement for the opportunity you are applying for, as detailed in the funding opportunity description.

Submission route: it is recommended that once this initial section is completed and saved, check the submission path (via ‘Document Actions’ tab), the proposal has to be signed off by submitters and approvers. Please make sure they will be available to process the document on the day you intend to submit it to council and before the funding opportunity closes on 20 April 2023.

There should be a single fellowship applicant for each proposal, to whom correspondence will be addressed. Enter the name of the fellow and details of the fellow’s research organisation and department.

On submission of the proposal the fellow does not necessarily have to be located at the organisation that will administer the grant. However the administering organisation will be required to submit the fellowship proposal.

The fellow will take intellectual leadership of the project and manage the fellowship; this individual will be the contact person for UKRI correspondence.

The named fellow is responsible for ensuring that successful proposals are undertaken and completed in the manner specified.

Eligibility

This opportunity will be open to applicants with a PhD or equivalent research experience.

Please check ‘who can apply’ section and the fellowship funding opportunity descriptions for more details on eligibility requirements.

Please copy the following standard text into the summary section of your proposal. Do not enter any additional text.

Each fellowship will last up to 18 months to cover:

• a 3-month inception phase for set up activity
• a 12-month placement with the host organisation
• an impact phase lasting up to 3 months

Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows will also engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers.

This will be supported through their embedded role within the host organisation, including line management support.

Staff duties

Summarise the duties of the fellow (2,000-character limit).

Applicants should clearly stipulate their time commitment for each phase throughout the fellowship, which will last up to a total of 18 months. Applicants are invited to outline their time commitment and expectations of the role in response to requirements set out in the funding opportunity.

The role of any additional staff members involved in the project should also be summarised in this section.

Inception phase for project set up (first 3 months)

Up to 0.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) maximum.

Main placement with hosts

Please refer to fellowship funding opportunity descriptions for more details.

Knowledge exchange and impact

Up to 0.4 FTE maximum.

Additional staff members

The role of any additional staff members involved in the project should also be summarised in this section. Due to the format of this fellowship, additional research staff (for example, research assistants) should not be included, however the following may be included:

• mentorship support is required for applicants who are early career researchers (ECR). If applicable, the mentor should be identified here
• any administrative support requirements should also be summarised in this section

Please ask your research office to assist you with completing this section.

In addition to the applicant themselves, only the following justified staff costs are eligible:

• a small amount of justified administrative support for the fellow
• mentorship support is required for ECR applying to the funding opportunity. Justified costs can be requested to support the mentor’s contribution to the fellowship and should be detailed in your justification of resources attachment

If including any such additional support, staff details should be entered here under the appropriate fund heading:

• ‘Other Directly Allocated’ are those who will be working directly on the project, but whose involvement on the grant can only be based on an estimate of the time the work will take (for example, mentorship for early career applicants)
• ‘Directly Incurred staff’ are those whose time on the project is actual, auditable and verifiable (for example, the fellowship applicant, administrative support)

Please note that associated project studentships are not permitted for this funding opportunity.

Your research office will be able to support with this section.

All resources requested must be justified in the justification of resources attachment.

The UKRI policy fellowships with government hosts will provide up to 18 months of justified funding with an overall limit of £170,000 (100% FEC) per grant. If successful, UKRI will meet 80% FEC on proposals submitted and the host institution is expected to support the remaining 20%.

Travel and subsistence

Add each item of justified travel and subsistence required, including:

During the inception phase, please budget for at least 1 visit to your host department and 1 UKRI cohort event (likely to be held in Swindon or London).

Placement with hosts (12 months)

If the funding opportunity you apply for does not state explicit requirements of travel to an office, please budget for at least 1 visit per month to the office of your host or to attend cohort engagement activities with UKRI.

Knowledge exchange and impact phase (final stage, up to 3 months)

Please budget for attendance at 1 cohort event.

You should indicate the calculations upon which these figures are based in the ‘Destination and Purpose’ box.

Other directly incurred costs

Eligible costs under this heading include any additional costs associated with the requirements of the inception, placement and impact phases of the fellowship. This may include but is not limited to costs associated with caring responsibilities. Further costs associated with accessibility may also be permissible.

Please budget £15,000 other directly incurred costs for additional flexible fellowship-related placement and impact funds. Please use the following justification wording in justification of resources:

• research-related costs, including but not limited to participant recruitment, transcription, software
• training and development requirements including but not limited to specialist software, methodological and data skills, professional development, policy awareness
• impact enhancement funds including but not limited to networking, organising and attending events such as conferences and workshops
• additional travel and subsistence

Other directly allocated costs: including support staff salaries, a share of the costs of departmental support staff and the costs of access to major research facilities.

Early career applicants should enter relevant mentorship costs under this heading.

Estates and indirect costs

Estate and indirect costs are specific to each research organisation, and do not require justification in your case for support.

Research organisations that have implemented the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) methodology and have passed the quality assurance process should apply their own estate and indirect costs.

Non-research organisations that are not required to implement TRAC must have a robust costing methodology in place that has been validated in order to apply their own estates and indirect cost rates. The standard default rates should be used where research organisations have not yet developed their own rates.

Your research office will be able to assist with this section.

Data collection

It is not expected that new data is collected for the UKRI policy fellowships 2023 funding opportunity. This section should be completed by answering ‘No’ to the mandatory question.

Attachments

It is important that applicants only submit the supporting attachments specified on this web page. We reserve the right to reject applications that do not include the required attachments or include attachments not specified in this guidance.

Attachments must be uploaded in PDF (rather than Word) format, to reduce document corruption issues and must be in font size 11 with 2 cm margins and in a permitted font (for example, Arial or Calibri).

The following are mandatory Je-S attachments for this funding opportunity and must be included:

• case for support
• justification of resources
• CV, including 1-page publication summary list, including mentors CV (for ECR)
• head of department statement

List of publications are optional and must only be included to provide a list of publications that are cited in the proposal.

No other attachments should be included, therefore please do not add proposal cover letters, data management plans or any other attachments.

Mandatory attachments

Case for support (maximum of 4 sides of a4, plus 1 additional side of a4 for those seeking ecr or equivalent research status only).

This is the body of the fellowship application in which applicants must outline how they meet the fellowship criteria. It must not exceed 4 sides A4 in 11-point font. The only exception is for ECR applicants or those making a case for equivalent research experience, who can include up to a total of 1 additional page A4 in 11-point font to cover this information only.

All applicants must use the following headings in their main case for support:

• opportunity applied for: in this section please state clearly the name of the fellowship you are applying for. If you would be willing for your application to be considered for alternative fellowship opportunities in this funding opportunity if the panel considers this appropriate, please copy the following statement after the title of the fellowship you are applying for: “I consent to the assessment panel allocating my application to a different fellowship opportunity of this funding opportunity based on their assessment of my skills and experience as outlined in my application.” Please specify the relevant fellowship funding opportunities of interest to you
• motivation in applying for this funding opportunity: in this section please outline why you are interested in becoming a UKRI policy fellow, what you would hope to gain from the opportunity and how you see it fitting into your long-term research career
• expertise relevant to the specific funding opportunity: in this section please outline your particular expertise in and experience relevant to what is listed as required for the specific funding opportunity you are applying for
• communicating complex information and analysis: in this section please outline your experience or insights on translating complex information and analysis into meaningful narrative for a non-academic audience, verbally and in writing. For example, public policy engagement within or outside government and politics; provision of expertise to non-academic users; writing reports or giving presentations for the third sector. The examples given are purely for illustrative purposes and are non-exhaustive
• using expertise in a non-academic context: in this section please outline your experience or insights on using your expertise in a non-academic setting, including the challenges and opportunities of co-production and collaboration between research and non-academic partners. For example, public policy, third sector and business. Applicants are additionally invited to share their understanding of the analytical needs of the specific funding opportunity host and how research expertise may be relevant to these
• your experience or insights into the challenges of effective knowledge exchange between research, policy and funder communities
• your initial ideas for how to address the fellowship’s objectives through knowledge exchange activity during the placement and impact phases
• your initial thinking on how you would approach refining and prioritising knowledge exchange opportunities during the first half of your placement

ECR applicants or those making a case for equivalent research experiences may include 1 additional page A4 in 11-point font to cover this information only. Relevant applicants must use the following headings on this page:

• ECR status and mentorship (if applicable): you should articulate in your case for support why you believe ECR status to apply to you. Please find more detail on ECR guidelines in the ‘who can apply’ section. It is a requirement that early career applicants are provided with appropriate mentorship by a more senior academic with relevant experience from within their institutions. If applicable, in this section the mentor should be identified and mentorship arrangements summarised, including support towards generic fellowship development, engagement and dissemination activity. A CV should also be attached for any mentor included on the proposal. Applicants are asked to note that mentors are not subject to government security clearance and will not be able to access all resources and documents available to the fellow.
• equivalent experience (if applicable): please note that applicants are required to demonstrate that they hold a PhD or equivalent experience. They should demonstrate this through their CV and must explicitly address this in this section of their case for support

Any bibliography for references cited in the proposal should be attached under the ‘list of publications’ attachment; this should not include publications not cited in the proposal. A list of the applicant’s most relevant and recent publications should be included in the applicant CV.

Please pay close attention to the assessment criteria set out in the funding opportunity. Use the case for support to ensure that all elements are addressed in full taking account of information provided elsewhere in the application.

The case for support should be a self-contained description with relevant background and references and should not depend on additional information such as the inclusion of external links. Assessors are advised to base their assessment on the information contained within the application and are under no obligation to access such links (so they should not be used to provide critical information).

Justification of resources (maximum of 2 sides of A4)

A 2-side A4 statement justifying the resources required to undertake the fellowship.

Please refer to the Je-S help text for further guidance.

CV, including 1-page summary publications list (maximum of 3 sides of A4 per applicant)

A 2-page CV for the applicant must be included. This should include:

• contact details
• qualifications (including class and subject)
• academic and professional posts held since graduation
• a record of research funded by UKRI and other bodies

A 1-page summary list of publications should also be included in this attachment. The total number of pages for this attachment, including both the CV and publication list, should not exceed 3 A4 sides.

Head of department statement (maximum of 1 side of A4)

The head of department at the host research organisation must complete a statement in support of the proposal. This statement must be on headed paper, signed and dated within the period that the funding opportunity is open. The statement should:

• if the applicant is not currently hosted at the research organisation, confirm that the applicant would be accepted into the department for the purpose of undertaking the fellowship
• explain how the proposed fellowship would fit in with the department’s wider research programme and confirm their commitment to support the applicant to effectively manage workload to successfully undertake the fellowship
• confirm commitment to provide (if applicable) appropriate mentorship support for ECR applicants, including but not limited to generic project development, engagement and dissemination support

Please upload this as an ’Other Attachment’ type.

Mentor CV, if applicable (maximum of 3 sides of A4)

If the applicant is an ECR, mentorship support is required.

A CV should be attached for any mentor included on the proposal.

Optional attachment: list of publications

You must include a list of publications if you have cited publications in your case for support.

Please upload as ‘Other Attachment’ type. Please note publications not cited in the proposal should not be added here.

A list of the most relevant and recent publications should be included in the applicant CV.

Proposal classifications

Please populate the research area, qualifiers, and keyword sections to provide a comprehensive description of your area of expertise.

The proposal classification area replaces the ESRC-specific discipline section and is a harmonised (and expanded) structure agreed across UKRI. Therefore, if your area of expertise crosses the remits of more than 1 council you will now only need to provide the information once.

How to apply: What Works innovation fellowships

Use ‘Your reference’ to help distinguish easily between proposals in users’ current documents lists. The reference is intended to be a unique identifier for the proposal and is unrelated to the reference that the organisation would be asked to provide if a grant were awarded.

Enter project title (maximum limit of 150 characters). Your project title must be ‘[Opportunity Title] UKRI Policy Fellowship’. For example, Wales Centre Public Policy Lived Experience UKRI Policy Fellowship. Please note that each funding opportunity has a fellowship title indicated at the top of the funding opportunity description. Please use this at the beginning of your project title.

Your start date should not be before 1 October 2023. Your grant should be a proposed duration of no more than 18 months. Please make sure the start date and duration is in line with the required start of the inception phase and duration of the core placement for the funding opportunity you are applying for, as detailed in the funding opportunity description.

On submission of the proposal the fellow does not necessarily have to be located at the organisation that will administer the grant, however the administering organisation will be required to submit the fellowship proposal.

The fellow will take intellectual leadership of the project and manage the fellowship; this individual will be the contact person for UKRI correspondence. The named fellow is responsible for ensuring that successful proposals are undertaken and completed in the manner specified.

This funding opportunity will be open to applicants with a PhD or equivalent research experience.

Policy fellowships with a What Works innovation host are open to all career stages. Please check the ‘who can apply’ section and the fellowship funding opportunity descriptions for eligibility requirements.

Mentorship support is required for applicants who are ECR. If applicable, the mentor should be identified here.

Any administrative support requirements should also be summarised in this section.

• research assistance

If including any such additional support, staff details should be entered here under the appropriate fund heading. ‘Other Directly Allocated’ are those who will be working directly on the project, but whose involvement on the grant can only be based on an estimate of the time the work will take (for example, mentorship for early career applicants).

‘Directly Incurred staff’ are those whose time on the project is actual, auditable and verifiable (for example the fellowship applicant, administrative support, research assistance).

Your research office will be able to support with this section. All resources requested must be justified in the justification of resources attachment.

The UKRI policy fellowships with What Works innovation hosts will provide up to 18 months of justified funding with an overall limit of £210,000 (100% FEC) per grant. If successful, UKRI will meet 80% FEC on proposals submitted and the host institution is expected to support the remaining 20%.

You should indicate the calculations upon which these figures are based in the ‘Destination and Purpose’ box.

Eligible costs under this heading include any additional costs associated with the requirements of the inception, placement and impact phases of the fellowship. This may include but is not limited to costs associated with caring responsibilities. Further costs associated with accessibility may also be permissible.

In addition to the research and collaboration budget mentioned on this page, please budget £15,000 other directly incurred costs for additional flexible fellowship placement and impact funds. Please use the following justification wording in justification of resources:

What Works innovation fellowships research and collaboration budget

In addition to the £15,000 mentioned on this page, please budget up to £40,000 directly incurred costs for flexible research and collaboration costs.

What Works innovation fellowships have been allocated a maximum budget of £40,000 per fellowship. ESRC will fund 80% FEC to cover additional research and collaboration costs in acknowledgement of additional co-production, collaboration and research needs within the fellowship.

Costings under this funding will be identified by the fellow in consultation with their host institution during the inception phase. The fellow will request the use of this fund, to be agreed with ESRC, by the end of the inception phase in December 2023.

Please note this funding is separate to the fellowship placement and impact budget available to all UKRI policy fellows and it will be available to What Works innovation fellows only.

This funding will be subject to ESRC grants policy and be administered by the fellow’s research organisation (employer).

Full details on how these additional costs will be requested and approved will be shared with successful applicants. Only indicative estimates on the main eligible costs are required at the time of application.

Please budget up to £25,000 for directly incurred staff costs. Description: research assistant salary for time committed.

Please budget up to £15,000 for other directly incurred costs. Description: flexible research and collaboration budget, including but not limited to collaborator participation in steering boards and participation in research activity.

Please do add individual activity detail and costs if known, such as:

• travel and subsistence costs for steering board members attendance at steering board meetings
• travel and subsistence costs for research participants to engage in research
• participation fee for participants recruited for research activity

Other directly allocated costs

Including support staff salaries, a share of the costs of departmental support staff and the costs of access to major research facilities.

Research organisations that have implemented the TRAC costing methodology and have passed the quality assurance process should apply their own estate and indirect costs.

Non-research organisations that are not required to implement TRAC must have a robust costing methodology in place that has been validated in order to apply their own estates and indirect cost rates.

The standard default rates should be used where research organisations have not yet developed their own rates.

Case for support (maximum of 4 sides of A4, plus 1 additional side of A4 for those seeking ECR or equivalent research status only)

• opportunity applied for: in this section please state clearly the name of the fellowship you are applying for. If you would be willing for your application to be considered for alternative fellowship opportunities of this funding opportunity if the panel considers this appropriate, please copy the following statement after the title of the fellowship you are applying for: “I consent to the assessment panel allocating my application to a different fellowship opportunity of this funding opportunity based on their assessment of my skills and experience as outlined in my application.” Please specify the relevant fellowship opportunities of interest to you
• using expertise in a non-academic context: in this section please outline your experience or insights on using your expertise in a non-academic setting, including the challenges and opportunities of co-production and collaboration between research and non-academic partners. For example, public policy, third sector and business. Applicants are additionally invited to share their understanding of the analytical needs of the specific opportunity host and how research expertise may be relevant to these
• ECR status and mentorship (if applicable): you should articulate in your case for support why you believe ECR status to apply to you. Please find more detail on ECR guidelines in the ‘who can apply’ section. It is a requirement that early career applicants are provided with appropriate mentorship by a more senior academic with relevant experience from within their institutions. If applicable, in this section the mentor should be identified and mentorship arrangements summarised, including support towards generic fellowship development, engagement and dissemination activity. A CV should also be attached for any mentor included on the proposal. Applicants are asked to note that mentors are not subject to government security clearance and will not be able to access all resources and documents available to the fellow

Please upload this as ’Other Attachment’ type.

Please upload this as ’Other Attachment’ type. Please note publications not cited in the proposal should not be added here.

How we will assess your application

Applications will be assessed and shortlisted by a panel of academic and non-academic experts. A shortlist of applicants will be invited to attend an interview with representatives of the host department.

Interviews are expected to take place in July 2023 and will be managed by the host departments or What Works Network centres. After the funding opportunity closes applicants will be informed of shortlisting outcomes and, where applicable, interview dates in due course. Applicants are asked to note that interviews will be run by hosts. Therefore, UKRI will need to pass on shortlisted applications (including applicants’ personal details) to host departments in advance of the interview stage.

We expect the funding decision will be communicated by September 2023.

The panel will assess the quality of your written application and your interview performance against the following criteria:

• fulfilment of essential and, where relevant, desirable criteria outlined in fellowship funding opportunity descriptions
• understanding of the analytical needs of the host and an ability to grasp and respond to these effectively at pace
• subject matter or methodological expertise relevant to the requirements of the specific fellowship
• the ability to translate complex information and analysis into meaningful narrative for a non-academic audience, verbally and in writing
• an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of co-production and collaboration including with non-academics
• the ability to design and lead activity that supports effective knowledge exchange between research, policy and funder communities
• value for money across all budget areas requested, including where relevant for wider institutional mentorship and support

Please note: in the event of an exceptionally high volume of applications to this funding opportunity it may be necessary to implement an additional pre-panel sift stage.

Contact details

Get help with developing your proposal.

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

Ask about this funding opportunity

This funding opportunity is managed by UKRI. Please do not contact the fellowship hosts directly.

Email: [email protected]

Get help with applying through Je-S

[email protected]

01793 444164

Opening times

Je-S helpdesk opening times

Additional info

Fellowship funding opportunity description documents.

Please note, for fellowships listed under the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), these are continuing as usual. But applicants should be aware that following the government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, the roles will ultimately be located in one of the new departments.

For the ESRC fellowship with Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), this will be embedded into the new Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT). However, for the interim period, the process will be run through the DCMS Chief Scientific Adviser’s office.

We will provide more information if you are successful in reaching interview stage.

The fellowship funding opportunities are detailed here by council and aligned to disciplines of economic and social sciences, arts and humanities and biotechnology and biological sciences.

ESRC-funded fellowship funding opportunities

BEIS Economy Growth and Productivity Analytical Fellowship (PDF, 213KB)

Opportunity to work on key drivers of economic growth and productivity, including innovation diffusion, competition and scale-up of innovative companies.

BEIS Research, Development and Innovation Analysis Fellowship (PDF, 206KB)

Opportunity to undertake impactful analysis of the UK’s research, development and innovation landscape to influence policy across government.

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

CMA Competition and Productivity Economics Fellowship (PDF, 237KB)

Opportunity to carry out economic research into issues in competition and productivity to inform CMA and wider government policy.

Cabinet Office Data and Evaluation Policy Fellowship (PDF, 82KB)

Opportunity to be part of a reform programme at the heart of government, to drive a step change in evaluation, evidence-based decision-making and outcomes for the public.

DCMS Future of Online Regulation Fellowship (PDF, 256KB)

Opportunity to use economic and social research methods to help DCMS better understand future online regulation and DCMS’ role in governance of new technologies.

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Defra Embedding Economics into the Fourth UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Fellowship (PDF, 239KB)

Opportunity to explore and advise how the research programme underpinning the UK’s fourth climate change risk assessment can embed and make best use of economic analysis and evidence.

Department for Education (DfE)

DfE Applying Behavioural Insights to Education Fellowship (PDF, 196KB)

Opportunity to lead a portfolio of innovative, robust, respected research, that demonstrates the value that behavioural science can bring to educational policymaking.

Department for Transport (DfT)

DfT Urban Economics Fellowship (PDF, 200KB)

Bringing recent advances in urban economics and quantitative spatial modelling approaches to the heart of transport policy appraisal at the DfT. Undertake new research to build an open-source tool for transport modelling and appraisal which deploys these techniques.

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

DHSC Securing Better Health: Economics or Social Research Fellowship

Opportunity to use economic or social science research skills to improve health policy and NHS and social care service delivery.

DLUHC Building a Green Future Fellowship (PDF, 228KB)

This fellowship will provide an opportunity to work across the breadth of DLUHC’s policy areas, bringing science to bear in areas of key department priority, under the guidance and support of the chief scientific adviser.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

DWP Model Development Fellowship (PDF, 228KB)

Developing methods and approaches in microsimulation and agent-based modelling of the GB benefit system.

DWP and DHSC

DWP and DHSC: Work and Health in post-pandemic UK Fellowship (PDF, 229KB)

Opportunity to analyse survey and administrative datasets to better understand the links between work and health, influencing policymaking at the joint DWP-DHSC Work and Health Unit.

FCDO Economics, Data and Evaluation Fellowship (PDF, 251KB)

Working alongside FCDO’s chief economist and as part of the global FCDO economist community, this is a great opportunity to use your economics and analytical skills to advance methodology, thinking and impact related to some of the UK’s priority development and foreign policy areas.

HM Treasury: Macroeconomic modelling and Fiscal Sustainability Economics Fellowship (PDF, 207KB)

Opportunity to build a macroeconomic model to improve the government’s understanding about the interaction between fiscal policy and the economy and the impact on fiscal sustainability.

Home Office Criminal Justice System Strategy Analysis Fellowship (PDF, 207KB)

Opportunity to use research and analytical skills to build a more detailed understanding of operational and policy changes that can lead to increase charges and out of court disposals.

Home Office National Crime and Justice Lab Policy: Crime Data Analytics Fellowship (PDF, 222KB)

Opportunity to use matched or linked data and data analytics to assist in the prevention and reduction of crime across the UK.

Home Office: The impact of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles on Policing service delivery Fellowship (PDF, 240KB)

Opportunity to understand the socio-economic impact of connected and autonomous vehicles on UK policing.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ Data and Evaluation Fellowship (PDF, 211KB)

Utilising technical expertise in evaluation methodology, using administrative and other data sources, to robustly evaluate justice policy and practices.

MoJ Improving Outcomes Fellowship (PDF, 233KB)

Harnessing interdisciplinary academic expertise, to enable evidence-based policy and practice decisions, to improve justice outcomes.

Northern Ireland (NI) Executive

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA): Building a Green Future, Behaviour Change and Public Attitudes to Climate Change in Northern Ireland Fellowship (PDF, 227KB)

Opportunity to work closely with NI government and in particular DAERA to develop a programme of work to support the goal of net zero in NI through behaviour change and using a range of behavioural science tools and skills.

Department for the Economy: Evaluating Innovation Policy Research Fellowship (PDF, 252KB)

Opportunity to work with the Department for the Economy to drive a step change in approach to the evaluation of the department’s 10x innovation policy, creating an evidence base to understand the true impact of innovative, inclusive and green growth and to aid future decision-making.

National Infrastructure Commission (NIC)

NIC Improving Outcomes Economics and Applied Data Policy Fellowship (PDF, 207KB)

Opportunity to apply advanced statistics skills and data science processes to improve long term economic infrastructure policy.

No.10 Data Science (10DS), co-funded with ADR UK

10DS Improving Outcomes: Data and Evaluation Fellowship (PDF, 245KB)

Opportunity to use machine learning to further the use of evidence in policymaking and developing government strategy.

10DS Economics and Data Science Fellowship (PDF, 217KB)

Opportunity to use machine learning to further economic indicators and understand impact on citizens.

Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted)

Ofsted Improving Outcomes Education Research Fellowship (PDF, 246KB)

In 2022, Ofsted published a new 5-year strategy, which commits us to being evidence-led, and to making the most of our insights. In support of this, Ofsted formed a new Insights and Research Directorate, to lead and expand our research and analysis capability. The fellow would be hosted by this directorate and contribute to delivering on Ofsted’s insights and research strategic plan, which aims to develop our capability for mixed methods research, harness the insights of Ofsted’s inspectors, and make the most of the data we hold, including through linking with other government datasets.

Scottish Government Promoting Economic Prosperity and Improving Outcomes Economics Fellowship (PDF, 279KB)

Opportunity to use a mix of economics and social science skills to enhance the understanding of the role of capital investment in promoting economic prosperity and improving outcomes. The fellowship will support the development of the approach and the evidence base for prioritising decisions on future capital investment.

Scottish Government: Building Resilience in Scotland, Cross-Disciplinary Study, Fellowship (PDF, 231KB)

Opportunity to use a mix of social science skills to improve domestic and international policymaking by enhancing our resilience to risk in Scotland and building risk capability across society

Local Government Finance Reform: Local Land Value Tax Data and Evidence Synthesis for Wales Fellowship (PDF, 278KB)

To investigate what systems would need to be designed and created to support the development of a local land value tax to potentially replace the current local government taxation systems (council tax and non-domestic rates) in Wales.

Welsh Government Sustainable Futures Fellowship (PDF, 308KB)

Design the methodology for, and conduct the first stage of, an evaluation for Wales’ ground-breaking Wellbeing of Future Generations legislation.

AHRC-funded fellowship funding opportunities

Cabinet Office Design and Knowledge Translation Fellowship (PDF, 217KB)

DCMS Cultural Placemaking Fellowship (PDF, 237KB)

Opportunity to undertake original research and analysis to improve place-based policymaking on regional growth and productivity across arts, heritage and tourism sectors.

DCMS Skills and Diverse Workforce Fellowship (PDF, 237KB)

Opportunity to undertake original research and analysis to improve policymaking on cultural education, skills challenges, and barriers to employment in cultural, creative and youth sectors.

DLUHC Creating Opportunities Fellowship (PDF, 233KB)

FCDO Cyber-Diplomacy Fellowship (PDF, 269KB)

Opportunity to use skills and expertise on a foreign policy fellowship on cyber-diplomacy.

FCDO Geographical Focus Fellowship (PDF, 319KB)

Foreign Policy Fellowships with geographic focus on either South Asia and Indian Ocean region or Middle East and North Africa).

Cadw Climate Change Adaptation Pathways Fellowship (PDF, 215KB)

Opportunity to develop and test the adaptation pathways approach to climate change adaptation and develop guidance and training for policymakers, asset owners and practitioners in the historic environment sector.

BBSRC-funded fellowship funding opportunities

BEIS Nature based Anaerobic Digester Solutions Fellowship (PDF, 233KB)

Opportunity to utilise biological science skills to research whole systems impacts of nature-based solutions to methane leakage in anaerobic digestor medium storage and clarify policy on fugitive emissions abatement.

Defra Building a Green Future Data Science and Agriculture Fellowship (PDF, 256KB)

Opportunity to use data science, natural science or agronomy to improve understanding of the impacts of the environmental land management schemes.

DHSC Securing better health through prevention, Biological Sciences Fellowship (PDF, 244KB)

Opportunity to use biological science knowledge and research skills to improve health policy and NHS and social care service delivery.

FCDO Building a secure and resilient world, arms control and non proliferation Fellowship (PDF, 288KB)

Opportunity to use life sciences expertise and skills to support maintenance of prohibitions against the use of chemical and biological weapons.

FCDO Tackling Infections Epidemiology Fellowship (PDF, 287KB)

Opportunity to use skills and expertise in epidemiology to improve FCDO’s preparedness for disease outbreaks and to inform decision making during outbreak responses.

NI Executive

Department of Health Ageing and Wellbeing Bioscience Fellowship (PDF, 242KB)

Opportunity to inform the development of health policy for the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases and the treatment of acute illnesses through community pharmacy based clinical services.

Scottish Government Tackling Infections Bioscience Fellowship (PDF, 242KB)

Opportunity to create a unique central database of infectious organisms or pathogens isolated and biobanked from multiple species: humans, animals and plants, across Scotland to inform future policy and research.

What Works Innovation Fellowships

Centre for Homelessness Impact How Policing Can Add Value to Street Outreach Activities Fellowship (PDF, 83KB)

Opportunity to enhance the understanding and evaluation of approaches that enable local authorities, police and other enforcement agencies to work effectively together to address rough sleeping.

College of Policing Sexism and Misogyny in Policing Behavioural Change Fellowship (PDF, 103KB)

Developing and implementing behaviour change interventions aimed at tackling internal sexism and misogyny within UK policing (between colleagues).

College of Policing Measuring Harm for Violence Against Women and Girls Social Research Fellowship (PDF, 88KB)

Opportunity to improve the measurement of harm using police data to better evaluate interventions to reduce domestic and other violence against women and girls.

Education Endowment Foundation Fellowship on Recruitment and Retention in Social Services Research (PDF, 85KB)

Opportunity to explore, test and optimise recruitment and retention strategies in social services research.

Wales Centre for Public Policy Lived Experience Policy Fellowship (PDF, 88KB)

Opportunity to enhance the understanding, capabilities and skills of evidence-generators, policy-researchers, policymakers and practitioners related to including lived experience evidence and involving people with lived experience in their work.

Youth Futures Foundation (YFF)

YFF: Understanding What Makes for Quality Work Fellowship (PDF, 116KB)

Using a mixed methods approach to understand what makes for high quality jobs for young people, understanding the dispersion of quality work around the UK, and working to support firms and policymakers to increase the quality of work.

Please find 2 exemplar fellowship agreements, 1 for UK and devolved government funding opportunities and 1 for What Works Network centres funding opportunities.

These exemplars have been developed in consultation with UKRI legal, central government departments and functions, and the university sector.

We advise potential applicants and their research organisations to review the relevant exemplar in advance of submitting an application to this funding opportunity. A final version will need to be signed by all parties before the fellowship can commence.

Shortlisted applicants will be notified of any changes to the final agreement relevant to their application.

UKRI policy fellowship exemplar fellowship agreement (PDF, 479KB)

What Works innovation fellowship exemplar fellowship agreement (PDF, 393KB)

Supporting documents

Equality impact assessment (PDF, 195KB)

This is the website for UKRI: our seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Let us know if you have feedback or would like to help improve our online products and services .

What would you like to look for?

Public data for resilience and inclusion​, using administrative data to inform policy and practice in challenging times., adr uk conference 2023, 14 november 2023.

Registered pre-conference workshops ticket holders only ( FULLY BOOKED )

15 & 16 November 2023 

Registered conference ticket holders only ( SOLD OUT )

Location:  The Eastside Rooms , Birmingham

Conference sub-themes

Research to support renewal, recovery and resilience, data linkage, methods, systems and technology, ethics, law and social implications, public engagement and involvement in population data research, prepare for your visit.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the ADR UK Conference 2023 at The Eastside Rooms in Birmingham.  Tickets are now sold out.  Prepare for your visit using our  interactive programme  and find out more about the venue, transport links and hotels:

Timetable Venue   Programme

Hear from our Directors

Dr emma gordon (adr uk) and bill south (ons), introducing our keynote speakers.

Professor Rohini Mathur Professor of Epidemiology and Programme Director for the MSC in Health Data Science Queen Mary University of London

Edward Humpherson Director General for Regulation Office for Statistics Regulation

Professor Peter Mackie Personal Chair, Director of Impact and Engagement School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University

Professor Marion Oswald Professor in Law Northumbria University

Keynote speakers

Our sponsors

Official Sponsor

Our exhibitors

Conference highlights

• Poster presentations​ 
• Bursary awards​ available
• Pre-conference workshops​
• Ample networking opportunities built in​
• Keynote speeches from leaders in the field
• Parallel sessions​ on a diverse range of topics

We are a welcoming community drawn from academia and government who are working to transform the way researchers access the UK's administrative data for public good research. We encourage anyone in the field including researchers, data scientists and civil service analysts to participate in this conference. 

"Since 2018, ADR UK has worked with data owners across the UK to safely and securely open up access to administrative data for research. Five years on, this conference is an opportunity to come together to showcase the incredible insights now being generated, so we can continue to build this research community.”

“There is huge value in administrative data research to inform and shape policy, especially during challenging times for the economy, society and the environment. This conference provides an opportunity for all those involved in the process to come together to better understand its potential to improve resilience and inclusion."

What would you like to look for?

Adr uk research fellows: ministry of justice and the department for education linked datasets fellowships.

Categories: Research using linked data , ADR UK Research Fellows , ADR England , Office for National Statistics , Children & young people , Crime & justice

16 December 2021

ADR UK is funding five 12-month research fellowships to conduct analysis using the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)-Department for Education (DfE) linked dataset to understand links between childhood characteristics, educational outcomes, and offending.

This is the second funding call to be launched as part of the ADR UK Research Fellowships scheme, following the Data First magistrates’ and Crown Court fellowship.

Find out more about the Research Fellows and their projects below.

Dr Hannah Dickson

Education and social care predictors of offending trajectories: an administrative data linkage study.

Dr Hannah Dickson is a lecturer in forensic and neurodevelopmental science and will be using national crime records linked to educational and social care records. The project aims to see whether it is possible to identify those children and adolescents who are more likely to become persistent offenders before involvement with the criminal justice system begins. This will help influence decisions on how best to support them, potentially reducing criminal offending and its associated social and economic costs.

This project aims to explore the following research questions:

• What are the offending trajectories of individuals born on, or after, 31 August 1985 up to 31 August 1999?
• Which administrative education and social care record data is most helpful in predicting these specific offending trajectories?

The methodology used in this study:

The proposed 12-month project will use a retrospective cohort design . The project will link the individuals identified in the crime dataset, with the care and education datasets:

• National crime records for individuals born on, or after, 31 August 1985 up to and including 31 August 1999 
• Linked to these individuals’ prior educational and social care records.

The project will first use a statistical analysis approach called latent class analysis to identify different trajectories of offending behaviours following a first recorded conviction or caution.

Then the project will adopt a statistical learning approach, to see if it can identify the education and social care predictors of the different types of offending patterns or trajectories . The identification of children and young people at higher risk for persistent offending has the potential to inform early intervention approaches and criminal justice responses to reduce offending and by extension contribute to evidence-based policy making.

Duration: January 2022 - January 2023

Funding: £127,575.80

Publications

Blog: Exploring the impact of education and social care on offending patterns , March 2022

Blog: Developing trajectories of (re)-offending using UK administrative data , March 2023

Data Explained , September 2023

Data Insight: Childhood educational predictors of re-offending trajectories , August 2024

Dr Anna Leyland

How do differing rates and modes of child welfare service interventions impact upon educational and criminal justice outcomes of vulnerable children.

Dr Anna Leyland, Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, will use the linked MoJ-DfE dataset to examine how application of different child welfare service interventions impact upon educational engagement and criminal justice involvement. In doing so, this research may help explain current trends of disproportionate negative outcomes for young people with 'child in need' or 'looked after child' status.

• What risk or protective effect does support from child welfare services during childhood offer education engagement and attainment, and involvement in the criminal justice system, when other multi-systemic factors are controlled for?
• Are the outcomes for child educational attainment and engagement, and engagement with the criminal justice system following intervention from child welfare services fair and impartial across local authorities?
• What is the effect of a child’s age at first identification of welfare needs and the duration and degree of subsequent social welfare intervention, on education attainment and engagement with the criminal justice system?
• education attainment (maths and English GCSE level 5 or above)
• education engagement (number of unauthorised absences, temporary or permanent school exclusion)
• criminal justice service outcomes (convictions: none, one, two or more).
• The second research question will use the same data sources and knowledge from the research question one, but the effects will be placed in the geographical context of the local authority. Specifically, for this question, income inequality and child welfare service intervention rates for each local authority area will be added as an additional predictor in the model.
• Research question three will build again on the previous research questions and analysis to explore the effects of modes of child welfare service interventions at different ages and stages of development on education and criminal justice outcomes. It will also take account of the influences of multisystemic risk and protective factors.

Funding: £121,944

Blog: How do different types of social care involvement affect children's education and offending outcomes? , March 2022

Dr Katie Hunter

Understanding the intersections between care experiences and ethnicity in criminal justice involvement.

Dr. Katie Hunter, Lecturer in Criminology at Manchester Metropolitan University, will explore the role of both ethnicity and care experience for individuals who become involved with the criminal justice system. This will address an important gap in knowledge with regards the intersections between ethnicity and looked after status in offending and criminal justice involvement.

• What proportion of individuals have experience of the looked after system and what are the details of offending?
• Does offending profile vary according to ethnicity and/or legal status and placement type?
• How do care experienced and non-care experienced individuals’ sentence lengths compare for three offence types (actual bodily harm, robbery and possession of an article with blade or point), and do these relationships vary by ethnicity?
• How do factors (offender characteristics, legal status, placement type) impact frequency of offending for care experienced individuals?
• Individuals with experience of the looked after care system will be identified. Descriptive statistics will enable the offending profiles (offence type, frequency and disposal) of care experienced individuals to be produced and disaggregated by ethnicity and/or legal status and placement type.
• For each offence type, log-transformed custodial sentence length will be considered using logistic regression . Ethnicity and care experience will be included as key variables in these models, while also controlling for gender and court type.
• Where appropriate, multilevel models will be used to account for individuals who have multiple disposals within the offence types.
• Linear regression will be used to measure average frequency of proven offences for care experienced and non-care experienced individuals over a specified time frame, accounting for exposure to periods of imprisonment. Multilinear regression models will then be used to explore the extent to which ethnicity, legal status and placement type impact upon average frequency of proven offences for care experienced individuals.

Funding: £118,962.17

• Blog: Exploring ethnicity, care experience and justice systems involvement , April 2022
• Data Explained , October 2022
• Policy Briefing: Care experience, ethnicity and youth justice involvement - key trends and policy implications , September 2023
• Report:  Double Discrimination - Black care-experienced young adults navigating the criminal justice system , September 2023
• Animation:  Challenging (In)Justice , October 2023

Dr Alice Wickersham

The longitudinal association between school performance trajectories and offending behaviour.

Dr Alice Wickersham is a Research Fellow in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London. She will use linked National Pupil Database and Police National Computer data to investigate school performance as a key predictor of offending behaviour.

• Are young people with lower or decreasing school performance trajectories more likely to commit any offence after Key Stage 4 (up to age 21 years), as compared to higher or improving trajectories?
• Is school performance trajectory associated with re-offending?
• Does school performance trajectory modify the risk for different types of offending behaviour in vulnerable and marginalised groups? This may include socioeconomically disadvantaged, special educational needs and looked after children.
• Are the identified patterns in school performance trajectories and offending risk consistent across different regions of the United Kingdom?
• Are there discrepancies in gender and ethnicity data between the National Pupil Database and Police National Computer, and how can these be reconciled?
• What is the potential for conducting quasi-experimental trials using the data linkage, to investigate whether interventions such as special educational needs provision mitigate offending risk?
• The project will use growth mixture modelling to analyse latent school performance trajectories over Key Stages 1, 2 and 4. Regional differences by local authority will be explored. An advisory group comprising young people will be consulted on the optimal number of trajectories to accept in the final model. The resulting trajectories will be contextualised using published national school performance data from the same timeframe.
• The latent school performance trajectories will then be used as an exposure variable in regression models. Outcomes will be offending after Key Stage 4 (ages 17 to 21), and reoffending. Different types of offending will also be examined, using Home Office offence codes such as violence, robbery and sexual offences.
• The project will then use multilevel regression modelling to investigate interactions between school performance trajectory and pupil characteristics in predicting offending risk after Key Stage 4 (ages 17 to 21) while investigating clustering at the local authority level. Pupil characteristics of interest include gender, ethnicity, free school meals eligibility, special education needs status and looked after child status.
• Finally, descriptive comparisons of gender and ethnicity recordings in the National Pupil Database and Police National Computer will be conducted to identify discrepancies.  Descriptive explorations of interventions such as special educational needs provision will also be conducted to scope the feasibility of using these variables for quasi-experimental trials. This will be informed by the findings of a feasibility study funded by ADR UK and being undertaken by Dr Rosie Cornish, University of Bristol, who is a senior advisor on this proposal.

Funding: £130,000

Blog: Exploring educational attainment patterns and criminal offending , May 2022

Blog: Using linked data to evaluate special educational needs provision and offending risk , January 2023

Public engagement case study:  Consulting a pre-existing advisory group about a research project on ethnicity data , September 2023

Data Insight: Changes in school performance and involvement in the criminal justice system , April 2024

Data Explained: Discrepancies in gender/sex and ethnicity data between the National Pupil Database and the Police National Computer , May 2024. See also: detailed methods supplement . 

Dr William Cook

School funding, pupil performance and crime: a quasi-experimental study.

Dr William Cook, Senior Lecturer in Economics, will test whether two historic school funding programmes that have been shown to have raised academic attainment also had the effect of reducing the chances of pupils committing crime while in education and/or afterwards into adulthood. The results of the study may have wide implications for how we think about the benefits of increased expenditure on schools, beyond simply improving academic results.

• Did school funding programmes that are known to have increased pupil performance, also have the effect of reducing crime, both in the short and the long term?
• What are the potential benefits of this linked dataset for other researchers, policy stakeholders and the public?
• This project will use estimated regression discontinuity models of crime. Regression discontinuity models are based around the idea that if a policy is implemented on an institution (e.g., school, local authority) according to passing a certain threshold value of a continuous variable, then any ‘jump’ in outcomes observed at this threshold can be interpreted as the causal effect of the policy, subject to identifying assumptions.
• Two education funding policies will be evaluated separately (i.e., not within the same set of models): Excellence in Cities and the Leadership Incentive Grant.
• In both cases the analysis will test for heterogeneity in effects, i.e., whether the programmes’ impact varies depending on pupil, school, and area level characteristics.

Duration: December 2021 - December 2022

Funding: £92,474

Blog: Area-based education policy - what can we learn from past efforts? , March 2022

Data Explained , May 2023

Data Insight: School funding, pupil performance and crime , October 2023

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Related news, data insight: childhood educational predictors of re-offending trajectories.

This Data Insight examines the feasibility of using childhood educational information to develop predictive models of re-offending trajectories. A re-offending trajectory is the pattern by which a person commits crimes throughout their lifetime. This research aimed to explore whether we could use de-identified administrative educational and social care data to potentially identify the characteristics of individuals who may go on to become persistent offenders. The research used the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education linked dataset – England.

Animation: Improving our society through administrative data research

This animated video, developed as part of an ADR UK Research Fellowship project, explains what administrative data is, how researchers can use it to inform policy, and how your privacy is protected when conducting administrative data research.

Data Insight: Changes in school performance and involvement in the criminal justice system

Data insight: school funding, pupil performance and crime, policy briefing: care experience, ethnicity and youth justice involvement - key trends and policy implications.

This briefing is based on descriptive findings from Dr Katie Hunter's ADR UK Research Fellowship project, which focused on understanding the links between care experience, ethnicity, and involvement with the youth justice system in England. This project used the Ministry of Justice & Department for Education linked dataset - England.

Exploring educational attainment patterns and criminal offending

In this blog, ADR UK Research Fellow Alice Wickersham describes her work on the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education linked dataset, exploring the relationships between changes in educational attainment and criminal offending.

Exploring ethnicity, care experience and justice systems involvement

In this blog, ADR UK Research Fellow Dr Katie Hunter describes how she is using de-identified data, made available via the Data First programme, to investigate how ethnic identity and care experience intersect with criminal justice system involvement.

How do different types of social care involvement affect children’s education and offending outcomes?

In this blog, ADR UK Research Fellow Dr Anna Leyland explains how her research will explore the impact of different experiences of formal child social care involvement.

Exploring the impact of education and social care on offending patterns

In this blog, ADR UK Research Fellow Dr Hannah Dickson explains how her research will support more effective interventions to prevent prolific offending by identifying the early drivers of this behaviour.

Area-based education policy - what can we learn from past efforts?

In this blog, ADR UK Research Fellow Dr William Cook explains how he is learning from previous area-based education policies about how they can affect individuals and society long-term.

What would you like to look for?

• Annual Report 2022-2023
• A year in review
• Achievements and milestones

October 2022

• Funding opportunity launches: ADR UK Research Fellowships using ADR England flagship datasets (2022 round)
• The work of the 'One Wales' Covid response team wins the impact award at the Health and Care Research Wales Awards
• ADR UK announces it is a co-founding member of the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative , alongside a range of partners
• Digital object identifiers are introduced for the ONS data catalogue

November 2022

• ADR UK Ambassadors attend a showcase event
• Research on Covid-19 mortality and equality in Northern Ireland is published

December 2022

• 20 PhD studentships using ADR UK flagship datasets are announced across ESRC Doctoral Training Partnerships
• The Northern Ireland Public Data Panel pilot report is published
• ADR Wales launches its ‘ Programme of Work 2022-2026 ’ at the home of Welsh Parliament, The Senedd

January 2023

ADR UK Research Fellows participate in an ONS Research Excellence Series event

Research Fellows using the MoJ Data First probation and criminal justice system linked dataset begin their ADR England projects  

February 2023

• Applications open for two UKRI policy fellowships co-funded by ADR UK and ESRC , to join the No. 10 Data Science Team 
• ADR England Research Community Catalysts funding opportunity launches 
• Educational Outcomes Linkage launches in Northern Ireland 
• A policy symposium is held on the impact of severe mental illness on physical health in Northern Ireland 
• SCADR publishes a comic on children's rights and data 
• ADR UK legal framework for accessing data is published 
• Research Data Scotland joins ADR Scotland as a data delivery body   
• The Office for National Statistics and Welsh Government joint work plan on the coherence of Welsh language statistics cites ADR Wales involvement 
• A synthetic data pilot project is launched to test the value and usefulness of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings dataset 
• ONS Census 2021 data is deposited in the SAIL databank
• ADR UK Data Catalogue is launched 
• Interim position statement on synthetic data is published 
• An ADRC NI internship with a care experienced young person begins 
• Research Data Scotland joins with ADR Scotland to co-host a public panel  
• The ONS and ADR UK run a workshop for researchers, titled: ‘Becoming a Code Artisan: Hints and tips to write and share effective code’   
• ADR Scotland’s ‘Unlocking data to better understand the nursing & midwifery workforce’ flagship event is held in London   
• ADR Scotland launches its pilot podcast series - DataPod   
• Registrations open for the ADR UK Conference 2023  
• Funding opportunity launches: ADR UK Research Fellowships using ADR England flagship datasets (2023 round)  
• ADR UK is cited in the Office for Statistics Regulation Data Sharing and Linkage for the Public Good , with the SAIL Databank highlighted for its efficiency around data access and public engagement   

August 2023

• ADR UK launches a funding opportunity to evaluate the costs, benefits and utility of synthetic data
• ADR UK announces two research fellowships using the Data First family court - Cafcass linked dataset

September 2023

• ADR UK launches an online learning hub
• 6 ADR UK Research Fellows begin projects using ADR England flagship datasets (2022 round)

In this section

• Key developments across the partnership
• ADR England
• ADR Northern Ireland
• ADR Scotland
• Five ways we're improving researchers' experiences of accessing administrative data

share this!

August 29, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

trusted source

Study reveals impact of research assessments on UK legal publishing

by Queen Mary, University of London

A comprehensive new study has unveiled how the UK's Research Assessment Exercises (RAE) and Research Excellence Framework (REF) have significantly influenced legal academic publishing over the past 30 years. Conducted by esteemed legal scholars Professor Johanna Gibson of Queen Mary University of London and Professor Phillip Johnson of Cardiff University, and Queen Mary alumnus, the research provides an unprecedented analysis of over 30,000 research outputs written between 1990 and 2021.

The full study is published in The Modern Law Review , titled "Thirty Years of Legal Research: An Empirical Analysis of Outputs Submitted to RAE and REF (1990–2021)."

The study found that authorship of textbooks and practitioner texts once seen as prestigious have long lost their sheen. And despite a higher proportion of monographs generally correlating to success in exercises, there appears to have been a strategic shift by academics and institutions to prioritize articles over monographs.

Submissions have become heavily concentrated in a select group of prestigious journals, notably The Modern Law Review , Legal Studies , the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and the Journal of Law & Society . These four journals alone accounted for over 10% of all journal submissions since 2001, and over 50% of journal submissions come from less than 7% of all journal titles in the assessments.

The pressure to publish in top-tier generalist journals has steered academics towards research favored by these publications, potentially narrowing the scope and diversity of legal scholarship and damaging specialist legal scholarship.

The competitive landscape and emphasis on publishing in top-tier journals present significant challenges for early-career academics, who may face barriers to entry and increased pressure to conform to established research norms.

The findings raise concerns about the potential suppression of innovative and interdisciplinary research , as scholars may avoid unconventional topics or formats that are less likely to score highly in assessment exercises.

Professor Johanna Gibson, Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law commented, "Our analysis reveals that the structures put in place to assess research quality are profoundly shaping not just where, but also what and how legal academics publish. While aiming to promote excellence, these mechanisms may inadvertently be limiting the richness and diversity of legal scholarship."

Professor Phillip Johnson, Professor of Law added, "There is a very strong link between academic publishing behavior and the research exercises, and I think it is important that institutions implement strategies to achieve a balance between rigorous assessment and a diverse, innovative research environment which encourages all forms of legal scholarship."

Recommendations include:

• Re-evaluating assessment criteria: The study suggests a need for research exercises to positively encourage the dissemination of research in a wider range of publication outlets thereby encouraging more diverse and exploratory scholarship.
• Supporting publication diversity: Institutions should consider initiatives that support and recognize the importance of long form scholarship and the critical contribution to scholarship made by specialist journals.
• Mentorship and resources for early-career academics: Enhanced support systems can help emerging scholars navigate the complex publishing landscape and so bring out their novel insights.

Provided by Queen Mary, University of London

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