Our highlights from the ADR UK Partnership Meeting 2024

With a theme of 'advancing together, shaping tomorrow', delegates were able to share best practice and knowledge across the partnership, taking time to celebrate successes so far while also considering how we can approach our future work.

We spoke to Research Data Scotland (RDS) colleagues about their experience of the day. In particular, we focused on how the day’s discussions relate to RDS’ work on the ADR Scotland programme and our overall mission to make it faster and simpler for researchers to access public sector data.

What were you hoping to get out of the day?

Stella Telford, Data Analyst: “For the most part, I was hoping to hear insights from across the partnership. Working solely on the ADR Scotland programme, I wasn’t aware what other partners across different nations were working on. I thought it would be a good way to learn more about projects and hear about different elements of ADR work.”

Eleanor Mitchell, Data Sourcing Manager: “I wasn't sure what to expect from an online ADR UK Partner Meeting, especially following on from such a great in-person conference back in November 2023. However, I really enjoyed it and thought the format worked well.

“The breakout sessions that I attended —on listening to our users to improve services — were interesting and the organisers had done a great job of securing representatives from each nation across ADR UK to give their perspectives in the sessions.”

Emma Devine, User Engagement Officer: “I was hoping that by attending the 'listening to our users to drive service improvements' workshop, I could gain some insight into how other partners are interacting with their users in order to shape services.

“The biggest takeaway for me is that we're all grappling with similar issues. ”

Eleanor Mitchell, Data Sourcing Manager

What was your main takeaway from the event?

Carly McAllan, Project Officer: “My main takeaway from the event was a real appreciation for these moments where we can come together from across all teams in the ADR UK partnership. It was great to meet new people, and I found the workshops and small focus groups really valuable for building relationships, making new connections, and asking questions.”

Emma Devine, User Engagement Officer: “My main takeaway from the event was that most workplaces have techniques in common for engaging with their users — such as surveys and interviews — but that some had better systems for these which encouraged user participation and allowed for users to see the benefits of their input. It has left me with some better practices to think about and potentially implement to gain feedback and offer support to our own users in future.”

Jen Muir, Senior Data Analyst: “The keynote speaker, Simon Thompson, provided a huge amount of information about data federation which I found super interesting and gave me a lot to think about.

“This is particularly relevant for the new role I’m taking on at RDS, leading on work packages in the Connect4 programme. This is focused on establishing sustained federated access between the ONS Integrated Data Service and the Scottish National Safe Haven.”

Eleanor Mitchell, Data Sourcing Manager: “One of my main takeaways was that ADR UK is in scaleup mode, and so it's good that RDS are working on how we support this scaleup in Scotland. Also, I liked the idea of using a dataset like LEO (Longitudinal Education Outcomes) to demonstrate to other holders of sensitive data that it is possible to safely and effectively provide this type of data for research use.

“From the breakout sessions, the biggest takeaway for me was that we are all grappling with similar issues. It would be interesting to have more subgroups across ADR UK focused on specific topics that all nations can attend and share challenges and successes.”

What was your favourite session or speaker on the day?

Stella Telford, Data Analyst: “I attended the ‘Destinations Unknown: Exploring Career Paths in ADR UK’ workshop, which gave an insight into the career paths of people across the ADR UK partnership. I found it inspiring to hear the different routes that people have taken in their careers to get to the positions they are in now.” Emma Devine, User Engagement Officer: “All of the speakers were very clear and informative so I couldn't choose a favourite, but I do think that the first half of the workshop surrounding 'listening to our users' was most relevant to my work and provided some useful insights. Though I found the second half of the workshop detailing the different researcher journeys to be very interesting as well!”

“I found it inspiring to hear the different routes that people have taken in their careers to get to the positions they are in now. ”

Stella Telford, Data Analyst

Tell us about one thing from the event that really got you thinking.

Jen Muir, Senior Data Analyst: “One thing from Simon Thomson’s presentation that I think is key for me to keep remembering is that ‘Federated TREs will deliver (eventually): we need to go through a few phases of industrial revolutions first’.

“There is a lot of work that has been done in this space already across the UK and internationally, and there are plenty of challenges, so this is a good thing to remember in terms of planning. Some elements will be long-term goals and others will be things we can implement more quickly.”

Eleanor Mitchell, Data Sourcing Manager: “I was struck by the challenge of the proliferating trusted research environment (TRE) landscape, as outlined by Simon Thompson. It was useful to realise that this is an issue which has already had significant consideration and that there are existing thoughts on how to enable the researchers to access the data sources that they might need from various TREs. His final comment about the need for a step change or reinvention of TREs was thought provoking.”

“It’s important that we celebrate the work going on and make sure we raise awareness of ADR UK and the amazing work taking place.”

Carly McAllan, Project Officer

Emma Devine, User Engagement Officer: “One thing from the event that got me thinking was the idea of not just requesting feedback from users in the way of surveys, but also relaying the results of these surveys and the actions that will be taken following feedback. This means that those who have completed the surveys will see how useful their feedback has been for shaping services.”

Carly McAllan, Project Officer: “What really got me thinking was the sheer breadth of people involved and activity taking place. It’s important that we celebrate the work going on and make sure we raise awareness of ADR UK and the amazing work taking place.”

Stella Telford, Data Analyst: “One of the speakers from the Destinations Unknown workshop I attended spoke on the value of really believing in the job that you are doing, and the value that it adds. This struck me as particularly relevant to the work of Research Data Scotland and the work taking place across the whole ADR UK ecosystem.”