A world class data infrastructure for social sciences

01 May 2012

Mimas has been awarded £1.88 million in Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) e-Infrastructure funding to renew and enhance UK-wide data redistribution agreements with several international organisations.

The licences give the UK academic community unique access to the entire data resources of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), enabling global issues such as financial crises, international development, energy and the environment to be addressed using authoritative, benchmark, real-world data.

This will significantly enhance the portfolio of international macro data and resources available to students and staff in UK FE/HE institutions up until the end of September 2017.

Access to the data will also provide educators with opportunities to include actual events and their impact in their teaching and learning materials.

Work will start on processing the databanks in October 2012.

The award, which was made through the ESRC, is part of a BIS-led initiative to improve the national 'e-infrastructure' – the integration of digitally-based technology, resources and communications across a whole range of fields.