The Research strand of the Digital Economy Act broadly enables de-identified information held by a public authority to be disclosed for the purposes of research in the public good. The research framework in the Digital Economy Act 2017 is underpinned by the Research Code of Practice and Accreditation Criteria, which was approved by the UK Parliament in July 2018. As the statutory accrediting body, the UK Statistics Authority has established a Research Accreditation Panel to oversee the independent accreditation of processors, researchers and research projects.
Submitting a research project application to the Research Accreditation Panel
The Research Accreditation Panel meets regularly. Research project applications are submitted to the Research Accreditation Panel by accredited data processing environments at least one week prior to each Research Accreditation Panel meeting. Researchers are advised to liaise with support teams in their chosen accredited data processing environment to understand the requirements and timelines involved with submitting a research project to the Research Accreditation Panel.
Guidance for researchers completing research project applications to access data via the Digital Economy Act Research strand is available in the ‘Documents for Download’ section. Researchers are advised to use the project application example guidance to understand the information that is required for the Research Accreditation Panel to consider a research project application.
Applying for Accredited Researcher status
The Research Code of Practice and Accreditation Criteria requires researchers undertaking research using data provided under the Research strand of the Digital Economy Act to be accredited. Information on becoming an Accredited Researcher is available on the Office for National Statistics website.
Documents for Download
For Accredited Research Projects
DEA Research Project Application Form [docx 256KB]
DEA Research Project Application Guidance [pdf 264KB]
DEA Research Project Application Example [pdf 343KB]
UK Statistics Authority Ethics Self-Assessment Guidance
For Accredited Researchers
DEA Accredited Researcher Application Form [docx 165KB]
DEA Accredited Researcher Application Guidance [pdf 215KB]
DEA Accredited Researcher Declaration Form [docx 131KB]
For Provisional Accredited Researchers
DEA Provisional Accredited Researcher Application Form [docx 165KB]
DEA Provisional Accredited Researcher Application Guidance [pdf 237KB]
DEA Provisional Accredited Researcher Declaration Form [docx 217KB]