About

The ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science was set up to develop and promote the use of e-Science to benefit social science research.

We aim to drive a transformation in social science research practice which will inform and inspire social science researchers in the methods and tools of Digital Social Research. Enhancing established methods and practices will create new opportunities at the boundaries of the disciplines.

Since October 2009 the e-Social Science programme has been co-ordinated by the National Strategic Director for e-Social Science (NSDeSS) and the directorate team, which has been put in place to develop a coherent inter-agency approach to maximise the uptake, use and impact of new digital technologies across the social science community.

The e-Social Science programme currently comprises eight projects (“nodes”) which are developing and exploiting e-Science technologies, methodologies and infrastructure in the context of substantive social and economic research problems, and advancing our understanding of the sociology of research technologies. The programme also funds four ‘Demonstrator’ and ‘Sustainability projects, as well as a host of community-based activities throughout the UK.

DSR Aims:

  1. Strategy development. A pro-active, focused and consultative exercise has delivered a coherent national strategy for Digital Social Research.
  2. Ongoing delivery in the context of the emerging strategy through close interworking with national strategic partners, coordination of e-Social Science research activities, impact measurement and evaluation.
  3. Embedding in research practice. Coordination of training and capacity building activities to embed e-Social Science techniques in research practice and make effective use of emerging infrastructure.
  4. Sustainability. Developing partnerships with stakeholders to maintain the pipeline from innovation to sustainable services through communities, and facilitating appropriate business models.

The National Strategic Directorate for e-Social Science is based at the University of Oxford e-Research Centre and the University of Manchester, and our projects are located at Universities across the UK.