Learn to cost, plan, manage and share social science data effectively

There are still places available for Planning, Appraising, Ingesting and Documenting Social Science Data, a one-day workshop at the UK Data Archive (University of Essex, Colchester) on 27 November 2013.

When it comes to dealing with the ever increasing commitments of research data, the UK Data Service continues to see institutions struggle with the challenges of domain specificity, in particular, how to treat social science data.

How do we help our local researchers cost, plan and manage social science data effectively and following best practice? How do we then appraise, ingest, curate and make accessible that mixed bag of data that a social scientist might have created? How can we effectively demonstrate the impact of sharing?

In this workshop UKDS will showcase our collaborative support and training materials that are being used to support:

• research support staff who face dealing with ensuring compliance with data management responsibilities set out in almost all research applications (as well as persuading them it's the right thing to do)
• institutional repository managers now charged with appraising, ingesting, describing and managing social science research data created by local academics.

The day includes hands-on work getting your hands dirty with data!

The workshop is best suited for those who are actively working with storing and sharing data for use in social science research, or plan to in the near future. This course is unlikely to be suitable for undergraduate or postgraduate students unless working specifically in a data archiving environment.

Course fees include all workshop materials plus refreshments and lunch:

· £30 for UK students

· £60 for UK academic staff (including research centres), ESRC researchers, voluntary and public sectors staff
· £150 for commercial and international participants

For a full programme and booking information: http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/news-and-events/eventsitem/?id=3556

Help define the UK Data Service identity: User Survey

The ESRC are establishing a new UK Data Service which integrates several existing services including the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), the Census Programme and the Secure Data Service.

 

Work is now underway to establish an identity for the new service. To make it a cohesive and meaningful brand, we’d like to hear from data users – those who currently use digital research data, and those who might use it in the future.

 

Below is a link to a short survey designed just for data users. It’s a quick and fun questionnaire – not a research study, but a way to get some initial indications of what you think should characterise the UK Data Service’s ‘brand’. It should take less than 10 minutes of your time, and all responses are anonymous.

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UKdataservice_users

 

Please complete the questionnaire by Sunday evening, 16^thSeptember.

 

Announcing the UK Data Service

Continuing access to the most valuable collection of social and economic data in the UK has been secured with a £17 million investment over five years for the UK Data Service.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the new service is structured to support researchers in academia, business, third sector and all levels of government.

The new service, starting on 1 October 2012, will integrate the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), the Census Programme, the Secure Data Service and other elements of the data service infrastructure currently provided by the ESRC, including the UK Data Archive.

The UK Data Service will provide a unified point of access to the extensive range of high quality economic and social data, including valuable census data. It is designed to provide seamless access and support to meet the current and future research demands of both academic and non-academic users, and to help them maximise the impact of their work.

Full news story:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/newsdetail.asp?id=3290

ESRC press release:

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/22231/new-national-digital-repository-for-social-and-economic-data.aspx

Call for Applications: Chair of Governing Board, UK Data Service

THe ESRC are establishing the UK Data Service. The new Service will unify and extend what is offered by a number of ESRC data service providers, including the Economic and Social Data Service, the Secure Data Service, the ESRC Census Programme and others. It will become a cornerstone of the UK data infrastructure providing easier access to data resources to help maximise their academic and non-academic use and impact. The UK Data Service will be operational from October 2012. It will be directed and managed by the Director and the Strategic Leadership Team.

A Governing Board will be established to co-ordinate and manage the demands that will be placed in the Service, together with stakeholder expectations and interests. The UK Data Service Governing Board will have the responsibility and authority to ensure that the Service is developed, managed and maintained in a manner that maximises its benefit as a long-term world class data resource.

The ESRC are seeking an independent Chair for the Governing Board. This is a senior, part-time appointment (up to 15 days per annum) and will be remunerated accordingly.
Candidates should:

• have a strategic understanding of the complex environment the Service operates in including stakeholder perspectives
• demonstrate strong leadership, negotiation and influencing skills
• demonstrate experience of liaising and networking within the social science community and associated bodies at a national and international level.

The term of appointment, commencing 1 October 2012, will be three years initially with the possibility of renewal for a further two years up to a maximums of five years.

Further information

• Specification for the Chair of the UK Data Service Governing Board (PDF, 114Kb)

Applications should arrive no later than 16.00 on 15 June 2012. Interviews with shortlisted applicants are planned in the end of June 2012.

Contact

If you have any queries about the application process please contact:

• Kristine Doronenkova
  Email: kristine.doronenkova@esrc.ac.uk
  Telephone: 01793 444303 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01793 444303 end_of_the_skype_highlighting