Queens's University Belfast 2022-2026 ADR UK Programme

The Administrative Data Research Centre for Northern Ireland (ADRC NI) comprises Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, and, along with the National Statistical Agency (NISRA), forms ADR Northern Ireland (ADR NI). Our aims are to maintain the confidence of the different publics in the use of administrative data for research and to maximise the use of administrative data as a rich resource for evidence-based policy making and evaluation.

Collectively, ADRC NI and NISRA, with their separate but overlapping roles and functions will support the ADR UK's four areas of focus (Trust and sustainability; Research for public good; Researcher access & support; and Available data for research) set out in the Full Business Case for Administrative Data Research UK.

Trust & sustainability: ADRC NI has an exemplary track record of engaging with the different publics to demonstrate the utility and benefits of research based on administrative data. Our current approach will be progressed moving from engagement to involvement to create in-built pathways-to-impact, ensuring that our work will be placed throughout government departments, service providers, local authority councils, and the work of voluntary, community and social enterprise sector groups.

We also will lead on the development of the Northern Ireland Public Data Panel, to act as a public engagement service within the NI data landscape.

Research for public good. ADRC NI will continue to deliver academically excellent policy-relevant research led by field experts. However, the co-production by stakeholders ensures that outputs are aligned with the priorities and needs of Departments and the wider society.

The health and wider societal effects of the pandemic still feature in our proposed portfolio of research, but we will also continue to build on new linked datasets within the arena of children known to social services, prisoners and those who are homeless but will add three additional goals: (i) in collaboration with stakeholders, to build NI expert hubs in these areas, (ii) to bring the separate strands together using the linked data and a life-course approach as a bridge between providers perhaps confirming the benefits of interagency collaboration; and (iii) finally, to seek collaborations across ADR UK to build thematic networks around areas of common interest where sharing, learning and exploitation of natural experiments arising from devolution can occur.

Researcher access & support: Our ambition is to increase the capacity within the Social Sciences to manipulate and analyze large and complex datasets, especially of early career researchers. Remote access to NI-specific datasets for the research community throughout the UK is now possible through the establishment of the SeRP infrastructure at BSO, mirroring the SAIL capabilities in NI, and the adoption of the ONS Secure Researcher Service for access to NISRA datasets.

Our HSC Research and Development Office-funded Statistical and Methodological Support Officers continue to assist academic and other researchers both through the labyrinthine applications and governance processes and the technical aspects of research.

Available data for research: ADRC NI has successfully undertaken policy-related research incorporating data from a wide array of government departments and, in partnership with NISRA, we will jointly develop the NI themed datasets and a new Data Acquisition Programme. ADRC NI, through our HDR UK links have improved resources for linkage and remote access through SeRP infrastructure.

ADRC NI is also now closely integrated with other UKRI (HDR UK) investments to deliver data connectivity for the use of health and social care data for research, and is working with the Chief Scientific Advisor, Department of Health to expedite the introduction of the 'Secondary Uses' legislation that will facilitate the wider access to and use of health and social services data in Northern Ireland.