International work

We helped to establish the network of European Social Science Data Archives in the 1970s, and were instrumental in it expanding to become a legal Consortium of European Service Providers to deliver large-scale research infrastructure (now CESSDA). 

As a member of the International Data Access Network, we facilitate the use of controlled access data for research between six centres in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

We are involved in FAIRsFAIR, developing an overall knowledge infrastructure for academic quality data management based on FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles involving 22 partners in eight EU member states.

We also play a part in:

• IASSIST – the International Association for Social Science Information Services & Technology – an international organisation of people working in and with information technology and data services to support research and teaching in the social sciences
• ICPSR – the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research – leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community
• National Opinion Research Center – a data centre that pioneered secure data services and worked with us to build our own Secure Data Service
• SERISS – Synergies for Europe’s Research Infrastructure in the Social Sciences – providing socio-economic evidence to help countries across Europe tackle challenges such as youth unemployment, ageing populations, and transport and housing.

We regularly share our expertise with overseas organisations and host visitors interested in knowledge exchange around Managing data.

We have delivered training in Europe, the USA, China, India, Taiwan and Krygyzstan and our book, Managing and Sharing Research Data: a guide to good practice, was commissioned and published by Sage in multiple languages.

Please contact us if you have a capacity-building project you would like to collaborate on.