Relu Knowledge Portal

About us↑ Top

What is Relu?

The interdisciplinary Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) Programme studies the social, economic, environmental and technological challenges facing rural areas in Britain. Teams of social and environmental scientists, in close collaboration with stakeholders, research: sustainable food chains, the management of animal and plant diseases, adaptation to environmental change, and integrated land and water management.

Data sharing↑ Top

Will my archived data be in the public domain?

No, archived Relu data are not in the public domain. The data are only available for not-for-profit research and teaching. User who want to access the data have to register with the ESDS or the EIDC and agree to the terms of use before they can access data files.

Do the data centres own the archived data?

No, archived data remain the property of the researcher(s) who created the data. The data centres curate, preserve, store and disseminate the data, but do not own them.

How can other researchers understand and therefore use archived data?

Data can only be understood and used by other researchers to their full potential if they are well documented. Researchers interested in re-using archived data need to  understand how the research was carried out and what the data mean. The original researchers should provide enough information on the objectives and methodology of the research; explain the data collection methods used; describe the meanings of variables and codes used and any derivation or transformations carried out.

Why would I archive data rather than publish, knowing that scientific excellence is measured through publications?

The archiving of research data by no means replaces the need for scientific publications. Archiving data resulting from a research project provides an additional output besides many other research outputs. Archived data can complement publications and provide the base-line data used in publications.

Are data peer reviewed as a quality assurance for archiving?

Data offered for archiving are not subjected to peer review. The researchers creating the data have the  responsibility to ensure the high quality of data, both at the stage of data collection and at the stage of data entry.

During processing at the UK Data archive, a series of quality reviews are done by Archive staff, such as ensuring that variables and values are accurate according to the documentation supplied, checking for missing or erroneous values, chceking that sufficient ifnormation to support re-use is available, checking that confidentiality is not breached by making data available for re-use, checking that data have been anonymised.

Explore data↑ Top

Why are data files showing in the search results not available?

If data files are not available yet, the research is either still ongoing, or the data files are being processed by the Relu Data Support Service, or the data are held under embargo for the researchers to finalise their analyses and publications. Such embargo may last for a year after the project ends.

Explore methods↑ Top

What are the interdisciplinary methods based on?

Between 2004 and 2012, Relu funded a total of 94 projects. Researchers from 40 distinct disciplines from across the social, environmental and biological sciences joined in the research, with the largest numbers coming from ecology, economics, human geography, environmental modelling, sociology, hydrology and crop sciences.

Relu DSS evaluated and reflected on the variety of interdisciplinary methods and approaches to data integration that projects have used, distinguishing five main approaches.

News & events↑ Top

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