How to use our data

We welcome applications from:

• Researchers who are affiliated with an academic institution.
• Public sector researchers.
• Private sector analysts.

Application process

If you have a research project that would benefit using data from business or local government, we may be able to help. It can be a long process, because researchers will potentially be working with sensitive data − so we have a number of safeguards in place to protect people’s privacy and ensure the data is kept safe. We train researchers to use data safely, lawfully and responsibly, and the project must have the potential to benefit society. 

The first step is to contact our data services team with your proposal and an idea of what data you want. If the data you wish to access comes under the bracket of safeguarded or controlled your proposal will be passed to our Project Approval Board, made up of the data owner and a senior data manager from the Centre.

Requests are assessed on an individual basis and the data owner will be asked whether it allows an approved researcher to use their data for a specific project.

The Project Approval Board will develop its assessment criteria based on, but not limited to:

• Alignment within one of the Centre’s research streams; methodologies for big data analysis, local economic growth, supporting vulnerable people or mapping public access to green infrastructure.
• Public interest – the potential for ‘public benefit’;
• Scientific merit – the potential to advance scientific knowledge, understanding or methods;
• Privacy and ethics – the potential privacy impacts or risks, and wider ethical considerations;
• Project feasibility and competence of research group;
• Conforms to the Centre's Data Acquisition Plan, draw up by an independent committee.

Once your project has been approved we will offer you the correct training required to access the data and continue to offer guidance throughout your project. Before your research is published we will check the output to ensure any sensitive data is not released.