For years, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the U.K. has boasted one of the world’s leading data management portfolios. The organization’s mission is to make long-term decisions about how public investments should be made in data infrastructure to benefit U.K. citizens.
But new technology innovations, legal frameworks and development in the amount and types of data being created are forcing the ESRC to revamp its data management strategy. The goal is to ensure that high-quality data can be used to address pressing public social issues and to advance the U.K. reputation as a world leader in social science.
VentureBeat recently spoke with Melanie Knetsch, deputy director of impact and innovation at the ESRC, about the organization’s new data infrastructure strategy and what is driving it. She cited four key elements that are crucial now and will grow in importance going forward. They are:
An edited portion of the conversation between VentureBeat and Knetsch follows.
VentureBeat: The ESRC has launched a new data infrastructure strategy to help inform its investment in data collections and services tied to social sciences research. What are the key elements of that new strategy?
Melanie Knetsch: The strategy has set five initial goals and a series of related broad objectives.
Area of focus one: Building and sustaining a foundation
The goal for this area is that ESRC’s portfolio of data investments is a foundational pillar for U.K. social science’s role in research and policymaking.
Objectives for this area are:
Area of focus two: Leadership and connectedness
The goal for this area is that ESRC and investments work collaboratively and lead on making connections between people, organizations and infrastructures.
Objectives for this area are:
Area of focus three: Engagement and responsiveness
The goal for this area: ESRC and investments make decisions that support innovation and changing research and policy needs.
Objectives for this area are:
Area of focus four: Impact and public benefit
The goal for this area: ESRC and investments facilitate public and community engagement to ensure its investments deliver benefits for all U.K. communities.
Objectives for this area are:
Area of focus five: Skills and capacity for data use
The goal for this area: ESRC and investments enable skilled researchers to effectively utilize data in their research for public benefit.
Objectives for this area are:
VB: From a social research perspective, what is this new strategy in response to, or why was it needed?
Knetsch: ESRC needs a data infrastructure strategy to guide its management of existing investments and its pursuit of new opportunities. The following factors create a pressing need for a strategy:
The strategy will also help ESRC respond to shifts in societal values and priorities. For example, ESRC’s investment in understanding society has shown the value of longitudinal data in addressing the impact of the COVID-19 on particular sections of society as well as adaptability in conducting data collection under the constraints of the pandemic.
VB: What are the changes, upgrades or new implementations required to your data systems as a result?
Knetsch: The strategy will help us understand where best to invest in new pioneering opportunities that will genuinely catalyze and transform our data infrastructure and modernize and integrate our data services.
In terms of any changes, upgrades and new implementations, the delivery plan contained within the strategy sets out the program of activities we have designed to realize our goals and objectives over the next five years. These activities will help guide the ESRC and our investments toward achieving the near-term and longer-term outcomes and help identify where any changes, upgrades or new implementations may be required.
ESRC does not itself have data systems that will be directly impacted by the new strategy. However, the data systems it invests in on behalf of the research community, and which are largely managed by universities, are upgraded as needs arise and funding opportunities permit.
The strategy will help the directors of these infrastructure investments prioritize areas for changes and/or upgrades. For example, the data infrastructure strategy reaffirms ESRC’s existing commitment to the safe and secure use of data for research. The strategy will be delivered in accordance with the ESRC research data policy, and the Five Safes Framework.
In particular, ESRC will continue to invest in data services infrastructure to ensure appropriately secure access to data is delivered, through the provision of Trusted Research Environments and training and support to accredited researchers who require the use of sensitive data for their work.
VB: What are the hoped-for benefits or achievements of this new strategy?
Knetsch: The strategy goals and objectives will enable us to:
VB: How will this initiative likely best impact the public?
Knetsch: The ESRC's data infrastructure strategy aims to ensure high-quality data can be used to address challenges to maximize public benefit and advance the U.K.’s reputation as a world leader in social science.
The strategy states goals and objectives to guide how we will work with existing and future investments as partners in how we deliver the strategy. It provides a framework to guide how we and the investments work and will guide future investment decisions.
The 'theory of change' contained within the strategy includes the following statement on the desired impacts to be delivered through the strategy’s activities: “The delivery of public services is improved through better policies, which are informed by the effective application of highly valued ESRC data investments and infrastructures by skilled researchers. These improvements, underpinned by trustworthiness, deliver enhanced societal and economic outcomes, improved response to major challenges and enable the advancement of science through innovation and from taking advantage of the opportunities that data offers. Embracing the value of data and effective data use enhances the U.K.’s reputation as a front-runner in innovation, which encourages collaboration and the international flow of data.”