ADR Scotland

In the coming year, ADR Scotland will build on its data sourcing including delivery of key datasets in nursing and farming. The team will continue to develop the Scottish Historical Population Platform, exploring complex linkages and methods, and starting to extract the first cohorts of family histories for research. They will also establish a Unique Property Reference Number linkage as business as usual for research use. Following a recent stakeholder workshop, the team looks forward to developing geospatial capability - the use of location information to help analyse cohorts based on geography - within ADR Scotland’s data infrastructure to further enhance potential research.  

The ADR Scotland team plans to expand engagement with the public and policymakers, which is crucial to their work. Working with Research Data Scotland, they will expand their public panel membership and develop how the panel is delivered. A number of events are planned including with the Department for Work and Pensions on their areas of research interest and around children in care. They will also undertake regional engagement on the nursing and midwifery workforce research with key stakeholders including the Chief Nursing Offices.   

ADR Scotland will build on the existing success of securing police data to develop a wider programme of projects on public health and justice. This includes proposals for new research on the criminal justice and mental health outcomes of service leavers, in partnership with the Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, and a study on the health and mortality of prisoners in collaboration with the Scottish Prison Service.  

There will be ongoing collaboration with partners to improve data access and resources for datasets in Scotland, as well as development of ADR Scotland’s training programme to support researcher skills in using linked administrative data.