A good read by @parkali.bsky.social. In today’s AI-driven world, data is the new currency. Great to see #ESRC investing not just in infrastructure, but also in services and training to empower researchers. #UK #AI #DataInfrastructure #UKDS #ResearchSky #AcademicSky

Alison Park@parkali.bsky.social · last yr.

A blog from me on why social science infrastructures matter. I talk about the value of social science data collections & data services (especially @ukdsimpact.bsky.social), current opportunities and challenges (including AI, the growth of TREs & training), & what we're doing about them at ESRC.

A blog from me on why social science infrastructures matter. I talk about the value of social science data collections & data services (especially @ukdsimpact.bsky.social), current opportunities and challenges (including AI, the growth of TREs & training), & what we're doing about them at ESRC.

UK Data Service Impact@ukdsimpact.bsky.social · last yr.

🎉New on the Data Impact blog🎉 Professor Alison Park (@parkali.bsky.social), from ESRC, discusses the importance of UK social science data infrastructures and outlines some of the opportunities and challenges they face in our new Data Impact blog. blog.ukdataservice.ac.uk/park-esrc-da...

Absolutely delighted that ESRC and UKRI are funding this new study - and great to hear one of its leads, Pasco Fearon, discussing its value just now on BBCR4 Today. Also led by @clscohorts.bsky.social.

News from UK Research and Innovation@news.ukri.org · last yr.

UKRI announces first UK-wide birth cohort study in 25 years #ESRC #AcademicSky

One for anyone with an interest in the research potential of administrative data! The 2025 @adr-uk.bsky.social conference will be in Cardiff on 17-18 September. Full details including keynote speakers & the ministerial address by Rt. Hon Mark Drakeford MS (Member of Senedd) in the thread below.

One for anyone with an interest in the research potential of administrative data! The 2025 @adr-uk.bsky.social conference will be in Cardiff on 17-18 September. Full details including keynote speakers & the ministerial address by Rt. Hon Mark Drakeford MS (Member of Senedd) in the thread below.

🌳 Nature remembers. 🌿 Happy to share our new paper showing that where species live today isn't just about where habitats are - it's also about what happened there before. 🕰️ rdcu.be/eiVZE @watts-km.bsky.social @stir.ac.uk @tfinch.bsky.social @forestresearchuk.bsky.social

Spillovers and legacies of land management on temperate woodland biodiversity

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Data on beetle, bird, plant and mammal occupancy of woodland sites in UK agricultural landscapes demonstrate how contemporary spatial spillovers and legacies of...

rdcu.be

How to embed green industrial policy in a UK growth strategy buff.ly/47AOf9P My new piece for @IPPR volume with @asvalero @poid_lse @cep_lse

Such a great choice for the new head of Innovate UK! Tom is an inspiring leader and a tech hero. www.gov.uk/government/n...

New executive chair selected to boost innovation and growth across the UK

Tom Adeyoola selected as preferred candidate to head up Innovate UK.

gov.uk

Astonishing fact on #bbcr4today earlier, discussing the Heathrow power failure. Heathrow requires 41MW; a new data centre nearby needs 150MW. Stark illustration of the underpinning energy consequences of data storage.

Yes!!! Not enough focus on the DATA. How many disciplines/sectors have accessible datasets, alone or even integrated, at sufficient scale and quality to successfully apply these emergent, data-driven technologies?

Alison Park@parkali.bsky.social · 2y ago

Great lecture by @hetanshah.bsky.social today on #AI. A key message: AI depends on data (quality, coverage, access, linkage) but not enough focus upon it; “data is the unsexy cousin of AI”. Vital we keep focused on AI AND data, and on ensuring the public have a voice within discussions about both.

Great lecture by @hetanshah.bsky.social today on #AI. A key message: AI depends on data (quality, coverage, access, linkage) but not enough focus upon it; “data is the unsexy cousin of AI”. Vital we keep focused on AI AND data, and on ensuring the public have a voice within discussions about both.

The Health Foundation@healthfoundation.bsky.social · 2y ago

TODAY: Join us for our fifth #REALChallenge lecture. @hetanshah.bsky.social will be exploring what #AI might mean for health, and how to navigate and assess the opportunities and risks. Register now to attend online ⬇️   https://buff.ly/42TRHgu

really happy the National Data Library submission I worked on with @dgen.net has been selected

Alison Park@parkali.bsky.social · 2y ago

ESRC recently collaborated with Wellcome on the UK National Data Library Technical White Paper Challenge. Five submissions were successful and have now been published - do take a look: wellcome.org/what-we-do/o...

We just published a paper on what the new NATIONAL DATA LIBRARY should look like. It's very readable! Lots on: accountability.. federated analytics.. code.. modular tools.. Thanks to @wellcometrust and @ESRC who ran a competition for these papers! zenodo.org/records/1467...

ESRC recently collaborated with Wellcome on the UK National Data Library Technical White Paper Challenge. Five submissions were successful and have now been published - do take a look: wellcome.org/what-we-do/o...

UK National Data Library | Wellcome

We are seeking technical visions and architectures for a UK National Data Library to make public sector datasets more accessible to researchers and enable future science to thrive.

wellcome.org

Lovely article about me, my new book, and my home in today’s FT Weekend on.ft.com/3PtDGxU

Criminologist Yvonne Jewkes: ‘Confinement comes in many guises’

As the UK grapples with overcrowded prisons, she aims to change their design to make them feel less institutional and more like homes. In Bath, a Victorian cottage is her own great escape

on.ft.com

In case you missed it - cohort studies got a mention on Call the Midwife last Sunday (specifically the 1970 Birth Cohort Study)! A bit cheesy I know, but good to see these essential data resources, & the unique insight they make possible, get the attention they deserve. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

BBC One - Call the Midwife, Series 14, Episode 1, "This is going to be teaching us things for 80 years"

The midwives get to grips with the 1970 Birth Cohort Study.

bbc.co.uk

New PhD position on my UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project on political polarization: fully funded + ~20k tax free yearly stipend. Deadline: Feb 14th! Link to apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLI246/p...

PhD Studentship in Politics and International Relations at University of Reading

Explore the PhD Studentship in Politics and International Relations on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for higher education. Apply now.

jobs.ac.uk

What would it look like to reimagine #arts and #humanities as a vital and creative force for change at the heart of #science? For 25 years, the Arts and Humanities Research Council has supported the transformation of our understanding of ourselves through research...

It's ESRC's 60th birthday in 2025 - keep an eye out for how we are planning to celebrate! In the meantime, if you're interested in how our history connects to our current strategic thinking take a look at @stianwestlake.bsky.social's blog below.

Stian Westlake@stianwestlake.bsky.social · 2y ago

2025 is the ESRC's 60th anniversary year! Our precursor organisation, the Social Science Research Council, was founded in 1965; its first director was Michael Young, who had argued for its creation for two decades.

“These models can see patterns humans cannot, but not all patterns they identify are meaningful or reliable” … AI not immune to the correlation and causation challenge.

Dr Abeba Birhane@abeba.blacksky.app · 2y ago

"Researchers trained medical AI models on over 25,000 knee X-rays. They then essentially worked backwards, tasking the deep learning programs to find commonalities that predicted nonsensical traits, such as which knee-owners clearly drank beer or ate refried beans—which is patently absurd."

Interesting @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social FT Data Points today - does the apparent rise in the UK’s illness-related activity say as much about incentives in the benefit system as the nation’s health? Good to see (ESRC funded!) Understanding Society - UKHLS - as a key data source.

Delighted the ECHILD team, funded by ADR UK, has been awarded the ONS Research Excellence Award 2024 in the category of Secure Data Creation. ECHILD is a pioneering linked data resource that integrates administrative data across sectors from health & education. Find out more - www.echild.ac.uk

ECHILD: Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data

echild.ac.uk

NEW: Why do we always think crime is rising, even when it isn’t? This week I looked at one of the big data mysteries. Britain is 2/3 less violent than the 1990s; thefts were higher pre-lockdown Why, then, doesn’t it feel like it? 1/8 @thetimes.com 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/b63d...

Good article about many challenges in collecting accurate employment data - & importance of improving access to other sources (eg private sector & admin data). Good too to see some of the hidden challenges acknowledged - inc losing data savvy staff to tech firms. londonherald.co.uk/fuzzy-job-nu...

Fuzzy job numbers need fixing - London Herald

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Anyone who has taken “Econ 101” will know that most economic models assume ...

londonherald.co.uk

UKRI is recruiting a Director to lead work on R&D and Place. A great opportunity for an action-oriented leader who wants to tackle the many well-documented issues of the geography of R&D in the UK! careersportal.taleo.net/careersectio...

Fantastic night last night at the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize awards. There was a particularly strong legal and justice theme this year with winners including ... 1/3 More details: www.ukri.org/news/esrc-an...

ESRC announces its 2024 Celebrating Impact Prize winners

The work of researchers who have made an outstanding societal and economic contribution was celebrated at the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize awards last night.

ukri.org

We won the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize for Outstanding Public Policy Impact last night. An inspiring evening, learning about projects making profound differences, highlighting the power of research (see: Yvonne McDermott Rees; @richardmoorhead.bsky.social; and many more)

Congratulations to @richardmoorhead.bsky.social & the postofficeproject team for being worthy winners of the ESRC societal impact prize. Particularly struck by Lord Arbuthnot's comment towards the end of the video about the "forensic, humane, academic brilliance" of the work - high praise indeed.

Richard Moorhead@richardmoorhead.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our postofficeproject team won the @ESRC Societal Impact prize last night. Picked from some stellar projects we are as pleased as punch. Watch this video to see why... youtu.be/v99Fj6wjdnA?...

On a packed train to Oxford and everyone seems to be staying on for Moreton in the Marsh? I remember Moreton being a sleepy little town, what changed?!

The UK government has ambitious plans for a National Data Library, and a lot of the important technical choices remain to be made. Together with Wellcome, ESRC is running a Technical White Paper challenge to invite proposals for how to make it work best - more below! wellcome.org/what-we-do/o...

UK National Data Library | Wellcome

We are seeking technical visions and architectures for a UK National Data Library to make public sector datasets more accessible to researchers and enable future science to thrive.

wellcome.org