ABOUT US

Flash must be installed to view this video.
View this video on YouTube

We acquire, curate and provide access to the UK's largest collection of social and economic data. Find out more about us

VIDEO TEXT TRANSCRIPT

I'm Matthew Woollard and I'm the Head of Digital Preservation and Systems at the UK Data Archive.

Based here at the University of Essex is the UK's largest collection of digital material relating to the social sciences and humanities.

The UK Data Archive was founded in 1967 with support from the Economic and Social Research Council. The UK Data Archive's holdings are a vital resource for researchers, teachers and learners.

Amongst the services that we run is the Economic and Social Data Service, which is the UK's flagship service for the promotion and dissemination of social and economic data.

We've got a high international profile. We work on a range of different projects with all sorts of other organisations. These range from dealing with tools for the dissemination and documentation of data and also for best practice and best standards in the curation of data.

ABOUT THE ARCHIVE

our building

We curate the UK’s largest collection of digital social and economic research data
READ ON

PARTNERS & COLLABORATORS

partners

We work in partnership with organisations to acquire, deliver and promote our data resources
VIEW LIST

OUR PROJECTS

We are actively engaged in R&D activities across a range of data and research-related areas
READ ON

ACROSS THE DECADES

The Archive celebrated its 40th year of data archiving in 2007. Take a look at our history
READ ON

A QUICK GUIDE TO THE ARCHIVE  

1 of 8: We provide continuous access to the UK’s largest collection of digital research data in the social sciences
2 of 8: We hold thousands of data collections for social science research and teaching, quantitative and qualitative
3 of 8: We hold the only copy of many of the UK's large national surveys charting social research back decades
4 of 8: We are an established national archive at the forefront of managing, preserving, sharing and delivering data
5 of 8: We are a collaborative organisation supporting emerging and existing creators and users of data
6 of 8: We provide best practice guidance and training in managing and sharing research data
7 of 8: You won’t be able to find your family records on our site. You should visit a genealogical site instead
8 of 8: We don’t provide ready-made statistics, but using Nesstar you can view frequencies from popular surveys

OUR SERVICES  

ESDS 
providing access to key economic and social data
RELU-DSS 
supporting rural research data management
Census.ac.uk 
providing a gateway to 1971- 2001 UK censuses
HDS 
enabling access to a range of historical resources
SDS 
enabling safe and secure remote access to data
SQB 
providing access to key survey questionnaires
HAVE A QUESTION - CONTACT US
ABOUT US FAQ
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST