The 2019 researchfish submission period

By Rick Hamilton

Back in February, at the start of the researchfish submission period, we released an overview of our researchfish data alongside a refresh of our reporting webpage. Today, we are publishing the latest analysis of our researchfish data following the 2019 submission period.

Why GDPR matters for research

by Sarah Dickson and Maria Sigala

On 25 May 2018 new data protection regulations are introduced in the UK and across the EU. We have been working for many years with the research community and the Information Commissioner’s Office, trying to understand what the new regulations mean for research.

The General Data Protection Legislation and new Data Protection Act, which come into force in the UK, will enable greater accountability and transparency by those who process personal data. The new legislation, GDPR for short, offers enhanced rights to individuals whose data is being processed. 

What the latest application and success rates data tells us

Alex Hulkes is Strategic Lead for Insights at the ESRC, and is responsible for developing our ability to evaluate and carry out data-informed analysis of ESRC investments, policy and operation.

Here he explores the latest analysis just published on ESRC’s application and success rate data.

The data for decisions (ODS) made on ESRC research grant and fellowship proposals in the last financial year is now available on the ESRC website. And our analysis (PDF) has been updated to reflect this. Some parts of the picture have changed, but some remain the same.

Mine your data – why understanding online health communities matters

Dr Aude Bicquelet is a Research Director in the Health team at NatCen – the National Centre for Social Research. Aude specialises in the analysis of ‘Big Qualitative Data’ on health-related issues and has worked with professional and regulatory health bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of Physicians. 

In November, Aude presented findings from a recent study looking into how people use social media to discuss health issues at the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

A staggering 73% of adults in the UK turn to the internet when experiencing health problems. Whether it is to check symptoms, find out about available treatments or share experiences about living with a particular condition, the internet has become the first port of call with many turning to the web before they even consider going to see a doctor.

What happens when we don’t have good data?

Amy Sippitt is Full Fact‘s research and impact manager. She runs a team of fact-checkers, and promotes high-quality research into the impact of fact-checking and the misinformation ecosystem.

The Need to Know project was launched in February to anticipate and plan for what information is needed for upcoming public decisions. Here Amy — who co-ordinates the project — explains more about what the project hopes to achieve.

Experts can and do work together to call out spurious factual claims and argument. But they also play a big role in laying the groundwork for debate. This starts with attempting to predict the big debates that will be happening in five years’ time, and producing information to inform these debates before things get too heated for the information to be heard.

This is exactly what the Need to Know project is about — a joint project between Full Fact, the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK Statistics Authority, and the House of Commons Library.