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New ESRC funding for microdata centre

24 May 2006

The Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (CeMMAP), a joint venture between UCL and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, is to be funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Over the next five years, CeMMAP, which was previously funded by the Leverhulme Trust, will receive £3.1m to continue its work looking at the use of microdata to understand human behaviour and inform better policymaking.

Professor Andrew Chesher, UCL Economics, Director of CeMMAP said: "Our research programme opens up the opportunity to build in the UK a major world presence in microdata training and research. We will develop new tools and approaches to extracting knowledge from the wealth of microdata becoming available, and gain crucial new understanding of the dynamics and variability of human behaviour in economic and social contexts."

Alongside its cutting-edge research, CeMMAP will also focus education and training, offering courses for civil servants, professional economists and social scientists. There will also be training for doctoral students and exciting research opportunities for postdoctoral researchers.

Professor Ian Diamond, Chief Executive of ESRC, said: "This new funding underlines the ESRC's commitment to supporting leading-edge research. I am also delighted that CeMMAP will engage in capacity building which reinforces our own dedication to future-proofing the supply of social scientists within the UK."

Over the last five years, CeMMAP has built a wide network of Research Fellows in the UK and internationally, including two Nobel Prize winners: James Heckman (University of Chicago) and Daniel McFadden (UC Berkeley). The centre also runs the EU-funded Research Training Network, Microdata Methods and Practice, collaborating in research and training with institutions from Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.