This webinar is jointly organised by the UK Data Service, the University of Essex, and the Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) at UCL . This webinar will be useful for researchers looking to explore this new form of data for energy research, but also will be useful for researchers applying to access other secure data through the UK Data Service who are interested in learning more about the application process.

The Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) is a major UK research project that aims to utilise household energy consumption data available via smart meters to fuel a new wave of innovative energy research. This research will help make the UK’s energy system more efficient, sustainable and affordable. In this webinar, researchers from the SERL team will introduce the Smart Energy Research Lab, the project aims, the study and the data that is available for research use.

The data are stored on a state-of-the-art big data platform at the UK Data Archive, hosted at the University of Essex. From here, accredited UK academic researchers can obtain controlled access to these new forms of data for approved research projects via a secure research portal. All project applications are assessed by a data governance board to ensure that their use of the data complies with SERL’s rigorous data governance and ethical protocols. In the second part of this webinar, researchers from the UK Data Service will outline the accreditation and application process and will provide some hints and tips for how to put together a successful application.

This webinar will be useful for researchers looking to explore this new form of data for energy research, but also will be useful for researchers applying to access other secure data through the UK Data Service who are interested in learning more about the application process.

The webinar will last 40 minutes, with an additional 20 minutes after the presentations for participants to ask questions.