The UK Data Archive (UKDA) is a centre of expertise in data acquisition, preservation, dissemination and promotion and is curator of the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the UK.
The UKDA is a member of the Council of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA), and the International Association of Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) through which it plays a lead role in international collaborative projects on issues such as data sharing, metadata and social science thesauri. UKDA is also a member institution of the US national social science and historical data archive, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) in Michigan and the International Federation of Data Organizations (IFDO).
The UKDA also provides preservation services for other data organisations, supports the National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) and facilitates international data exchange through agreements with other national archives. The UKDA hosts the History Data Service and Census.ac.uk, facilitating access to the census data resources for UK higher and further education.
The UKDA's involvement in Research and Development projects has made a significant contribution to new developments in data preservation and dissemination, metadata standards, software for web browsing, data discovery and data delivery.
