A major new announcement for
University of Essex - A £5million Data Research Centre for Smart Analytics
Essex announces new Data Research Centre for Smart Analytics 06 February 2014
The University of Essex today confirmed its place
at the forefront of the UK’s Big Data network with the announcement of a
new Data Research Centre for Smart Analytics.
Funded by the
Economic and Social Research Council,
the new £5 million Centre will be led by Essex, working in partnership
with the Universities of East Anglia and Kent, who together form the
Eastern Academic Research Consortium (ARC), and with partners in
business and local government. ISER Director
Professor Heather Laurie will be Co-Investigator and the Centre will form close links with the ISER team.
The Data Research Centre will make data, routinely collected by
business and local government organisations, accessible for academics as
a national resource in order to undertake outstanding research in the
social sciences in ways that safeguard individuals’ identities. That
research will provide a sound evidence-base to inform policy
development, implementation and evaluation.
Announced as part of £14 million to fund the second phase of the
ESRC’s investment in big data, the Minister for Universities and
Science, David Willetts MP, said today:
“Making the most of large and complex data is a huge priority for
government as it has the potential to transform public and private
sector organisations, drive research and development, increase
productivity and innovation, and enable market-changing products and
services."
“The new data research centres will help the UK grasp these opportunities and get ahead in the global race.”
This latest funding, part of a pot of £64 million announced in
October 2013, will be used to support the establishment of four ESRC
Business and Local Government Data Research Centres at Essex, Glasgow,
UCL and Leeds Universities.
With the right analytics, big data can give organisations, both large
and small, the competitive edge by helping them improve their business
decisions, as well as offer insight into how they can expand.
What the Centre at Essex will also offer is a suite of big data
solutions – from training to consultancy to help the business and local
government communities maximise the value of their big data to research
the drivers of economic growth and the provision of services.
Its data storage facility for business and local government data will
allow researchers to access data in a secure environment that
guarantees confidentiality of the information. The centre will also
manage, curate and link the data in such a way that new insights can be
made available to the users. The Centre takes advantage of the existing
experience and expertise in the field of secure big data storage and
safe access at Essex within the UK Data Service (UKDS) and the new
Administrative Data Service (ADS) based there.
Welcoming the announcement, University of Essex Vice-Chancellor
Professor Anthony Forster said the Centre would be central to showcasing
the University’s excellence in big data analytics.
“This is a fantastic initiative for Essex and really helps us
position ourselves as number one in the UK and Europe for harvesting
data analytics and applying the data in new and exciting ways to support
our business partners,” he said.
The Data Research Centre will be based within the University’s new
£21 million state-of-the-art building which will house Essex Business
School, which carries out business-based research and collaborations
with industry on big data, and is adjacent to the Knowledge Gateway
development, providing a high quality environment for innovative
business start-ups and SMEs.
The University has an international reputation for the collection,
curation, management and analysis of big data and is home to the UK Data
Archive – the UK’s largest collection of digital research data in the
social sciences and humanities.
The School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at Essex
already collaborates with companies around the world on analysing large
data sets and is also working with the South East Local Enterprise
Partnership to make the University a leading centre of excellence for
big data analytics.
Project leader and Director of the new Centre, Professor Vania Sena, of Essex Business School, said:
“Some companies and local authorities just do not have the knowledge
and skills to exploit the vast amount of data they produce as part of
their day-to-day activities to their advantage."
“The ESRC Data Research Centre for Smart Analytics will become a
place where solutions are created and data are used in a smart way to
improve their performance. They are sitting on a potential goldmine but
often they don’t have the skills and the knowledge to use that data in a
smart way.”
The aim is for the Centre to become a national centre of expertise
for data users across academic and non-academic sectors, offering a
vibrant environment to foster and enable innovative research by
supporting business, local government and academics to harness the
potential of complex big data where traditional analysis techniques may
not apply.
The Centre will also offer a comprehensive suite of big data training
programmes – from a basic introduction to big data techniques to
sophisticated training for data scientists. Bespoke consultancy for
businesses will also be offered, with future hopes of creating general
data solutions for SMEs.
Operating as part of the ESRC Big Data Network, the Centre will
provide new opportunities for data linkage projects at national,
regional and company level.
Ends
Note to Editors
For more information please contact the University of Essex Communications Office on 01206 872400 or e-mail
comms@essex.ac.uk.
About the ESRC
The Economic and Social Research Council
is the UK’s largest organisation for funding research on economic and
social issues. It supports independent high quality research which has
an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The
ESRC’s total budget for 2013/14 is £212 million. At any one time the
ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in
academic institutions and independent research institutes.
