Academics from Renmin University of China visited the University of Essex to speak to survey and data experts from the UK Data Archive, the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) and its world-leading academic departments.

Renmin University has received a major funding award from the Natural Science Foundation of China to build the Chinese National Survey Data Archive and its academics are keen to explore opportunities to collaborate with Essex academics and share their expertise.

• Read the article on the UK Data Archive website

Principal Investigators from some of China’s largest national survey projects came to meet Essex academics dues to the University’s international reputation for longitudinal surveys, data analysis and archive management.

Academics visiting Essex included:

• Professor Wei Yuan, Director of the National Survey Research Centre and Principal Investigator on the Chinese Consumer Index Survey;
• Professor Weidong Wang, Vice Director of the National Survey Research Centre and Co-Principal Investigator of the Chinese General Social Survey and Co-Principal Investigator of the Beijing College Panel Survey;
• Professor Yongjn Jin, Co-Principal Investigator Chinese Consumer Confidence Index Survey;
• Professor Ding Li, Co-Principal Investigator for the Beijing College Panel Survey.

The group heard presentations by UK Data Archive Director Dr Matthew Woollard and ISER Deputy Director Professor Nick Buck. They also had discussions with Head of the Department of Economics Eric Smith, Head of the Department of Government Professor Paul Whiteley and Professor Thomas Plümper, Director of Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis.

Essex is one of the UK’s leading universities for the social sciences and is home to numerous world-leading departments. The UK Data Archive is the country’s largest collection of digital research data in the social sciences and humanities with its staff recognised as leading authorities in managing and curating data. ISER’s world-class team of survey and research experts specialises in the production and analysis of longitudinal data – evidence which tracks changes in the lives of the same people over time. Understanding Society, the largest longitudinal study of its kind ever undertaken in the UK, is based at ISER.