1. About the Research Excellence Series
Each year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) organises a wide range of events. These are curated specifically for the research community and bring together researchers, data owners, government representatives and policy makers.
Our events include our annual in-person Research Capability Conference and the Research Excellence Series of talks and online events focused on important updates to our services.
The upcoming schedule is detailed in Section 2: Research Excellence Series 2026 and you can book directly through this page.
We will keep you updated through our monthly newsletter and other communications. If you are not on our mailing list, please contact us.
We look forward to you joining us for an exciting year of interesting and informative events. Find the full series of talk on Eventbrite.
Back to table of contents2. Research Excellence Series 2026
Each year, we organise a collection of online research events called the Research Excellence Series. The series showcases exceptional research projects that use a diverse wealth of invaluable research data. These data are used by researchers to produce new insights, inform change and make a difference in people's lives.
Each session will explore the story of a unique research project from inception to methodology, dissemination and impact. These sessions will be hosted by an eclectic range of speakers from across the research community.
Research Excellence Series Talks 2026
This year's series will include the winners from the ONS Research Excellence Awards 2025.
The awards recognise the excellent and innovative analyses carried out throughout the year and promote best practice research methodologies and data matching or linking. They also promote greater awareness and understanding of the data made available, and the public good achieved from statistical analyses of the data.
Find out more about the Research Excellence Awards 2025.
Join us for our popular series for the chance to get closer to researchers and their inspiring projects through our virtual events.
Back to table of contents3. Upcoming talks in 2026
May
We are pleased to welcome Dr Emma Sharland from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), whose team won the ONS Research Excellence Award – Government‑led Impact of Analysis.
The ONS Health Research Group delivers high‑impact insights on the relationship between health and the economy, using powerful linked datasets that combine Census information, GP records, hospital statistics, and economic data. Their analysis has shaped government missions, informed major spending decisions, and strengthened the evidence base for cross-government policy development.
In this session, Emma will highlight the group's recent work and preview new collaborations that are enabling more ambitious research across health and beyond. Central to this is the Public Health Data Asset (PHDA), a de-identified linked collection of datasets covering England and Wales. PHDA integrates health, administrative, and economic data to support deeper understanding of health and economic outcomes.
This presentation aligns with our May research theme: Health and Wellbeing.
Virtual event
How the National Statistician's Analysis Unit drives impact through data
Who
Dr Emma Sharland from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
When
Thursday 28 May, 10:30am to 11:30am
Where
Microsoft Teams
June
We are pleased to welcome Dr Rob Higham, Professor Jake Anders and Dr Golo Henseke, from the Free Schools Project Team at University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (IOE). The team were winners of last year's ONS Research Excellence Award - People's Choice Award.
Free schools are state-funded schools that operate independently of local authorities. In this session the team will present new analysis on how free schools affect neighbouring schools and students. Their research explores the differences in school quality, changes in enrolment patterns when a free school opens, and whether neighbouring schools respond to new competitive pressures. They also examine whether free school openings are associated with changes in student attainment.
This research uses linked administrative data, including bespoke extracts from the National Pupil Database (NPD), analysed within the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS).
This presentation aligns with our June research theme: Housing & Communities.
Virtual event
Analysing the impacts of free schools on neighbouring schools in England
Who
Dr Rob Higham, Professor Jake Anders and Dr Golo Henseke, from the Free Schools Project Team at University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (IOE).
When
Thursday 25 June, 10:30am to 11:30am
Where
Microsoft Teams
July
We are pleased to welcome Dr Markus Gehrsitz, Reader in Economics at the University of Strathclyde. Markus is an ADR UK Fellow using linked data held in the SRS.
Britain is facing an offender rehabilitation crisis. In England and Wales, more than half of adults released from custodial sentences of six months or less reoffend within one year of release. This talk explores whether post-release supervision reduces re-offending, and for which groups it is most effective.
This talk will present empirical, data-driven evidence on the effectiveness of supervision, the role of prison recalls, and how different offender groups respond to license conditions – offering new insights into how supervision may help relieve pressure on the criminal justice system.
Markus’s research uses the Ministry of Justice: Data First Cross-Justice System Datasets and the MoJ/DfE Linked Dataset, which are available to accredited researchers through the SRS.
This presentation aligns with our March research theme: Crime and Justice.
Virtual event
From Custody to Community: The Effect of Post-Release Offender Supervision
Who
Markus Gehrsitz, University of Strathclyde
When
Thursday 30 July,10:30am to 11:30am
Where
Microsoft Teams
August
We're delighted to welcome Emeritus Professor Julie Selwyn CBE from the University of Oxford to share new findings from Family Routes, a Department of Education funded study tracking 1,170 children in long‑term foster care from primary school through to age 19.
Using linked education and social care data accessed through the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS), Julie will outline how these children progress through Key Stages 1, 2, 4 and post‑16, and how their outcomes compare with other looked‑after children. She will highlight the key factors shaping progress, including SEN, mental health indicators, attendance, suspensions, school moves and placement stability. Julie will discuss what the findings reveal about long‑term foster care as a permanence option.
The session will also reflect on what linked administrative data can reveal about the experiences of children in foster care and the implications for policy and practice.
Julie's work draws on Growing Up in England (GUiE) Wave 2 – Children in Need and Children Looked After data and supports our August theme: Children, Young People & Education.
This presentation aligns with our August research theme: Children, Young People & Education.
Virtual event
Family Routes: Educational outcomes for children in long-term foster care
Who
Professor Julie Selwyn CBE, University of Oxford
When
Thursday 27 August, 10:30am to 11:30am
Where
Microsoft Teams
We will keep you updated through our monthly newsletter and other communications. If you are not on our mailing list, please contact us.
Back to table of contents4. Previous talks
All our talks can be found to watch back on the ONS YouTube channel.
April
Should we stay or should we go? Firms' decision on services mode of supply
We were pleased to welcome Assistant Professor Martina Magli from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich). Martina and her team received a commendation at last year's ONS Research Excellence Awards.
This talk looked at how trade barriers affect the global trade in services. Because services can be delivered in several ways, firms often switch between direct exports, customer travel, overseas affiliates or moving staff when conditions change.
Using new data on UK firms, the talk shows how businesses choose between these delivery modes. After Brexit, many UK firms began serving EU clients through local affiliates rather than exporting directly. This helped reduce the impact of new barriers but also led to lower employment in the UK.
March
The short and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children's outcomes
We were pleased to welcome Dr Sarah Cattan from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The IFS team were winners of last year's ONS Research Excellence Award – Impact of Analysis.
Through the 2000s, Sure Start was one of England's major early years policies, offering a "one-stop-shop" for families with children aged under 5 years. This research evaluates the short- and medium-term impacts of having access to a Sure Start centre on children's educational, health, criminal and social care outcomes throughout childhood. It uses a wide array of administrative datasets for England and conducts a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the policy.
February
Supporting the ONS Longitudinal Study
We were pleased to welcome Professor Stephen Jivraj from the Centre for Longitudinal Study Information and User Support (CeLSIUS) Team, University College London and Adam Tempest from Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The CeLSIUS team were winners of last year's ONS Research Excellence Award – Secure Data Creation Award.
The ONS Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS) is a unique dataset that links census and life events data for individuals in England and Wales across six successive censuses, from 1971 through 2021. This talk introduced the ONS-LS, explain how the CeLSIUS support service helps academic, voluntary and public sector researchers access and use this resource, and showcase examples of research leveraging the newly linked 2021 data.
January talk
Socio-emotional characteristics in early childhood and offending behaviour in adolescence
We were delighted to welcome economist and Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK Research Fellow Dr Paul Garcia Hinojosa, from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.
This talk examined how socio-emotional and cognitive difficulties identified in early childhood are associated with adolescent offending, drawing on de-identified, linked administrative data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Department for Education (DfE). His project aims to inform early interventions to help prevent youth crime.
Back to table of contents5. More information
If you have any questions about research events at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), please email srs.engagement.team@ons.gov.uk.
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