Deadline: 9-Aug-23
Apply now for funding to undertake a project based on Understanding Society data.
Understanding Society is one of the largest household panel studies in the world and a major infrastructure investment for UK health and social sciences. By enabling researchers to track individuals over time, the data can be used to assess the causes and consequences of change in individuals’ circumstances (such as the birth of a child, marriage, separation, retirement) for themselves and their families (e.g. poverty, income, health, parenting).
It also allows researchers and policymakers to gain a deeper understanding of issues such as poverty, unemployment or mental health, by allowing researchers to examine whether conditions are persistent or transitory. The data is also amenable to evaluating policy change as before and after measures are reported at the individual and household level. At the same time, Understanding Society provides significant opportunities for methodological research.
This has often been focused on formal experiments carried on the Innovation Panel, but there are many opportunities for methodological research on the main survey as a result of changes in design over time (e.g. changing modes due to the pandemic).
The Understanding Society Fellowship Programme enables researchers to take time out to focus on research projects based on the Study’s data.
Practical support will also be available from the Study team, for example, to advise on data and analysis plans and communication and impact strategies.
Fellowship Themes
- Policy evaluation
- Policy evaluations provide a vital tool to understand whether a policy is working as intended or not, for whom and why.
- As a multi-topic panel study Understanding Society data (including the BHPS) provides a unique opportunity to assess the changes in behaviours and social, economic or health outcomes arising from key policy interventions. Ideas for policy evaluations could be based on natural experiments or specific policy interventions that have been implemented, utilising comparison across time, comparison between groups or comparison between regions and places (e.g., using matched areas, devolution or gradual geographical rollout of policies)
- Linked administrative data
- Linking administrative data to the information collected annually on Understanding Society participants can provide opportunities for new research by adding in content that cannot be collected (reliably, efficiently or cost-effectively) by the Study – or is otherwise unavailable.
- They would welcome Fellowship applications that propose to make novel use of the linked data and that can be promoted to others as a means of demonstrating the value of its use.
- They would also be keen to field proposals where they do not already hold the external data but where it might be possible to link these data to Understanding Society records at property-level or some other low-level geography. Due to their additional sensitivity and disclosure risk, access to almost all of the linked data is via a secure (remote) trusted research environment and accessible to accredited researchers only and usually after a more rigorous application process. Potential Fellows will therefore need to hold accreditation, or be eligible to obtain it, in order to start their Fellowship.
- They will also need to build in time to begin the data access process before their Fellowship starts.
- Research making use of the unique value of Understanding Society
- As a research resource, Understanding Study is unique. It is a large-scale, nationally representative, multi-topic longitudinal household survey, collecting data from and on its participants annually.
- The Study benefits from a large sample size, allowing researchers to examine the lives of important population sub-groups over time, with an Ethnic Minority Boost sample and Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Boost sample increasing the numbers of different ethnic minority and immigrant groups.
- Data are collected on the whole household, providing the context for individual experiences but also allowing relations between generations, couples and siblings to be explored. Fellowship applications on any topic that can demonstrate that they will make use of at least one of the key features of the Study – or, ideally, a combination of them – are welcomed.
Funding Information
- The maximum budget per fellowship is £70,000 for staff and dissemination related costs.
- The fellowship can last up to 12 months, full or part time.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications will be assessed on the basis of their scientific merit and potential to demonstrate the usefulness of the Study as a research resource and/or generate policy impact.
- Any researcher based in a higher education institution, a research/policy institute or third sector organisation is eligible to apply (except the University of Essex), but people can only have an Understanding Society Fellowship once, so previously successful applicants should not apply.
- They welcome applications from researchers at any career stage. Early career researchers (ECRs, < 3 years post PhD) should identify a mentor in their own institution.
- Applicants from a third sector organisation should identify a collaborator based in an academic institution, who is able to support their project.
For more information, visit Economic and Social Research Council.
