Public engagement activities
ADR UK's public engagement work takes place at both a national and UK-wide level, with activity spanning the national partnerships and the wider ADR UK programme.
This year, at a UK-wide level, ADR UK is pleased to be collaborating with DARE UK to deliver a timely public dialogue on the use of AI trained on sensitive data. This builds on a pilot public dialogue led by DARE UK last year, and the findings of a roundtable discussion hosted by PEDRI, which shared learnings and explored challenges around public engagement with AI in data research. The first phase of the public dialogue has now begun with an initial literature review, and will continue into our 2026-2027 reporting period.
ADR UK has also continued to explore new ways of engaging wider audiences. This year for the first time, we participated in the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival, hosted by the Institute of Art and Ideas. Dr Emma Gordon delivered a Big Data Matters session, introducing the power and potential of administrative data to a general public audience. A recording of the session will be made available on the ADR UK website later this year.
The partnership also participated in the Pint of Science programme again in 2026, bringing our work into local pubs to share back our findings with the public. Recordings of two London sessions where then shared more widely as special summer ADR UK podcast episodes to amplify reach, and details of participation across UK nations are included below.
Alongside events, accessible content for the public has also grown in 2026, including the launch of a short animation outlining how ADR UK keeps public data safe.
To mark our new funding period the ADR UK Public Engagement Strategy has also been refreshed to reflect our new priorities and supporting the unified delivery of the public engagement programme across the ADR UK national partnerships.
ADR England
Public engagement ensures that research using administrative data from ADR England reflects public priorities, concerns and experiences.
This year, we welcomed a new cohort to the ADR England Public Insights Panel following the successful completion of the first two-year panel. The original panel provided valuable input across a range of topics, including education-health research, financial data, official statistics and research into overcrowded housing and child health. In March 2026, the new panel began meeting, providing public perspectives on issues including data linkage for the Generation New Era birth cohort study and supporting ADR UK with the creation of communications and engagement resources.
Researchers using ADR England datasets have also continued to engage with the community and voluntary sector, and involve people with lived experience in shaping their work. ADR UK Research Fellow Dr Xingna Zhang, using the ECHILD dataset, consulted clinicians and young people with lived experience of autism to explore whether diagnosis helps children and young people access the support they need. Research Fellow Dr Hanna Creese similarly worked with young people who had experienced barriers to school attendance, using creative workshops to understand the factors behind persistent absence and co-produce an animation sharing their experiences.
We have also continued to bring research directly to communities through activities such as Pint of Science. At a special live recording event in London, ADR UK-funded researchers Dr Alice Wickersham and Professor Ian Brennan shared their research with members of the public and discussed how linked administrative data can help answer important social questions. The event was recorded and distributed as two special episodes of the ADR UK Connecting Society podcast, extending the presentations’ reach in digital spaces.
ADR NI
At ADR NI, public engagement and co-production continue to support public trust in administrative data research and helping ensure that research is informed by the perspectives of people and communities. The Administrative Data Research Centre Northern Ireland (ADRC NI) delivered public-facing activities including the Pint of Science Festival session, “The Science of Everyday Data”, and the ESRC Festival of Social Science event, “Data Detectives”, creating accessible opportunities for members of the public to explore how data is used for public benefit.
The Northern Ireland Public Data Panel continued to provide an important route for public dialogue on the use of administrative data. This included public dialogue activity on “Building Healthier, Fairer Places: Why Data Matters” in December, and a further dialogue in June linked to the Sensitive Evidence Tracking Working Group. These discussions brought public perspectives into conversations about data access, safeguards, research priorities and the responsible use of sensitive evidence.
ADRC NI also strengthened co-production with people with lived experience through voluntary sector partners Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC) and Homeless Connect. Groups were involved throughout the research process, from prioritisation of research to dissemination. Highlights include an animation created by care-experienced young people and a Lived Experience Data Insight created by Homeless Connect’s “Echoes of Home” lived experience advisory group. Both described research findings and stated in their own words what needs to change. Together, these activities support the accessible communication of findings and ensure lived experience helped shape how evidence was interpreted and shared. This demonstrates ADR NI’s commitment to meaningful engagement, transparency and partnership working throughout the research process.
ADR Scotland
ADR Scotland continued to grow public trust by engaging with the public at various levels this year- with audiences ranging from small local to large international.
Pint of Science is part of a UK wide initiative to reach members of the public in relaxed, informal and slightly unusual venues- the local pub. Three researchers presented on behalf of ADR Scotland discussing exclusion practices in secondary schools in Scotland and how best to encourage Scots to adopt cycling as a form of commuting. Audience numbers were higher than the previous years and the evening was followed up with an informative blog on social media.
The Edinburgh International Science Festival (EIS) festival is a key highlight in the public engagement calendar. The event enables the two-way flow of information between researchers and the public and is acknowledged as an excellent opportunity to reach different age groups, nationalities, knowledge levels and areas of the public. The event took place over four days during which ADR Scotland researchers connected with over 700 people. Use of tools, such as Lego®, helped researchers to explain data concepts.
New members have been recruited onto ADR Scotland’s public panel, Scotland Talks Data. Crucially, this allows researchers and partners to discuss research proposals, findings and implications, public perceptions around data, and safe data handling. Panel meetings have been scheduled for the next six months with topics ranging from the Veterans project, Scotland’s Census data and an introduction to synthetic data.
ADR Wales
Public engagement remains at the heart of ADR Wales, and over the past year we have continued to strengthen our commitment to ensuring that research using data is informed by the views, experiences and expectations of the public. This is reflected in the continued growth and influence of the SAIL Consumer Panel, which remains a cornerstone of our public involvement activity, providing valuable insight and challenge that helps shape our work.
Across our research portfolio, we have also expanded opportunities for engagement through the introduction of Advisory Groups within a number of projects, ensuring that research questions, methodologies and outputs better reflect the needs and priorities of the communities they seek to serve.
In parallel, our team within Welsh Government has led an ambitious programme of public engagement focused on data ethics, trust and public attitudes towards data-driven research. Through this work, we have deepened our understanding of public expectations around the use of data for research and policy development, helping to ensure that our activities remain transparent, responsible and aligned with public values.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate our ongoing investment in meaningful public engagement and our determination to place the public voice at the centre of data research and innovation.
