What do future data services look like?

The UK data services landscape has evolved substantially over the past decade. New legal frameworks for accessing data have been implemented; new methods for accessing and combining data have emerged and advances in technology, tools and methods have continued to grow. The landscape has become more complex, with a growing number of infrastructures providing services to data owners and data users serving a variety of needs.

Many of these changes have occurred in the years since the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) established the UK Data Service and other data service investments. The main questions that our data services face are: • how can current infrastructures connect more closely to deliver unified services for researchers? • what is the foundation needed to support researchers in an ever changing legal/technology/policy landscape? • how can data services work to support societal changes, e.g. addressing inequality in data, working in an environmentally sustainable way?

To respond to the increasing demands on social science data, ESRC has embarked on a strategic review called Future Data Services (FDS), to scope out how data services can deliver services to a broader, more diverse audience with an increasing need for interdisciplinarity. The rest of the world is also experiencing similar challenges; therefore this session should be of interest to a broad international audience.

This panel will bring together experts for a discussion on the future of data services. ESRC will present its recommendations that have been developed through its work on FDS. We will invite the panellists and the audience to challenge us on what is required to respond to community needs in an ever-changing landscape. The panel will discuss the components that make up a ‘good’ data service and how data services could be utilised to deliver even greater public good.