The UK Data Archive is curator of the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. With several thousand datasets relating to society, both historical and contemporary, the Archive is a vital resource for researchers, teachers and learners. The Archive specialises in management of distributed services & projects; distribution of official statistics; portal & repository development; training provision.

Their strenghts:

• Research excellence – Essex was ranked ninth in the UK for the quality of research and top for social sciences in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE, December 2008).
• Student satisfaction –  in the top 20 for mainstream English universities for overall satisfaction according to the 2011 National Student Survey.
• International perspective – one of the UK's most internationally diverse campus universities with students drawn from more than 130 countries.

The UK Data Archive has extensive experience of involvement in EC-funded projects, from Nesstar (Framework Programme 4), through FASTER, LIMBER, MADIERA and Cluster and Networking Activities. The Archive was Leader of CESSDA-Preliminary Phase Project 2008- 2010 and until 2010 held the Presidency of CESSDA.

Source: SERSCIDA