Social scientists from across Scotland have been awarded funding to find ways of harnessing the country’s vast trove of administrative data for the public good, with the aim of tackling major challenges across health, education, justice, and inequality.

Backed by £25 million from UKRI, Administrative Data Research Scotland (ADR Scotland) will fund a programme of collaborative, policy‑focused research built on public‑sector data linkage, bringing together researchers from across Scottish universities via the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR).

The University of Glasgow, for example, is set to receive £2.5 million to explore themes around work, welfare, and the economy, using administrative data from the tax, benefits and health systems to evaluate the labour market and social impacts of Scottish and UK-wide benefits, such as Universal Credit.

Glasgow Uni will also examine public sector data linked to housing and the environment, bringing together records on housing conditions to study the impacts of housing-related policies on the environment, as well as residents’ health and well-being.

“The UK has some of the oldest, least energy efficient housing in Europe, with poor housing estimated to cost around £15 billion a year in additional demand on the health service and wider social impacts such as loss of productivity,” said Professor Nick Bailey, leading this strand of Glasgow University’s research. 

“We’ll look at the benefits that improving energy efficiency has in reducing carbon emissions from heating our homes, but also the co-benefits that investment can bring in relation to reducing fuel poverty and improving health.”

Ethicists at the University of Stirling, meanwhile, will work with the Scottish Government to shape national policy on data ethics and public engagement, ensuring citizens have a voice in how their information is used for research and decision‑making.

ADR Scotland said the investment, channelled through the SCADR at the University of Edinburgh, will reinforce links across government, academia, and the public sector, and expand its work with partners such as Research Data Scotland, National Records of Scotland, and Public Health Scotland.

Recommended reading

• Can Scotland Digitise its Public Services by 2028?
• UK Public Data Programme Gets £168M Boost From UKRI
• Scottish Government Refreshes National Digital Strategy for 2025

By the end of the funding period in 2031, ADR Scotland intends to modernise Scotland’s data infrastructure, delivering faster, safer access to sustainable datasets for policy‑relevant research and speeding up the approvals process.

It also plans to upgrade the Scottish National Safe Haven, the secure environment for accessing national public data, to better support high‑quality research and ensure its findings drive real improvements in public‑sector policy.

“The work of ADR Scotland is vital in providing high-quality evidence for policy-making,” said Alastair McAlpine, ADR Scotland co-director and chief statistician for Scotland.

“This significant investment opens exciting opportunities for Scotland and the wider UK, unlocking the full potential of administrative data safely and securely for real public benefit.”