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need to make sure that the ESRC continues to make the best use of the evidence it has, in order to inform potentially difficult decisions about how to focus funding most effectively in the coming years. What do you believe is the value of social science? That question can be answered on a number
of levels. If we focus purely on economic or monetary value, then clearly the social sciences make a major contribution to the UK economy. For instance, research at the ESRC Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution helped design the auction of the 3G phone network in 2000, which raised a total of £22.5 billion – four and a half times more than the original estimate of £5 billion. In another example, an economic evaluation of the ESRC-funded UK Data Service from 2011 estimated that it yields between a 2.5 and ten-fold return on investment. In addition social science has a vital role to play in helping inform and shape policy, for example in reducing crime and making policing and the criminal justice system more effective. In this case social science may add value by reducing costs or reducing the experience and fear of crime, thereby improving people’s lives. But value should be understood in far broader
terms than economic value. The social sciences play a key role in helping us to understand more about ourselves, the families, communities and societies we are part of, and the institutions that we work within. The recent ESRC-funded programme The Future of the UK and Scotland is a good example of the work of social scientists that was made easily available to the public, to help inform their decisions about how to vote
The ESRC-funded Future of the UK and Scotland programme shows how the work of social scientists can help inform public debate
in the Scottish independence referendum. The programme illustrates not just the value but also the diversity of the social sciences – including resources on immigration policy, higher education, welfare, defence and security, business, currency and the constitution. The ESRC is turning 50 next year. Any thoughts on the organisation’s significance for the social sciences over this time? The role of the ESRC arguably remains unchanged since it was granted its Royal Charter 50 years ago. It is still charged with supporting high-quality research and related postgraduate training in the social sciences; to advance knowledge and provide trained social scientists to contribute to the economic competitiveness of the UK, the effectiveness of policy, and the quality of life; and to contribute to the public understanding of the social sciences. This role is as important today as it was in the 1960s. However, of course, society has changed significantly in the last five decades, and this has led to some changes in the emphasis of social science. Fifty years ago we could not have foreseen the current wide availability of computers and access to the internet. This has resulted both in major changes in people’s lives and communities, but also has yielded an enormous amount of new data and a proliferation of different types of data that between them can provide insights into the behaviours, preferences and constructed identities of individuals.
As the largest funder of social science research in the UK, the ESRC therefore now has the additional responsibility of ensuring that we have
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