The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Research Excellence Awards 2025 launched on Monday 21 July 2025. On this page you can learn more about this year's award categories, eligibility criteria and the previous winners.
1. Background
Each year, around 300 projects gain approval to access the secure data held within ONS Trusted Research Environments for statistical research. The research outcomes inform a diverse range of key economic and societal issues. Everything from inequalities in education and the cost of living through to insights on new linked health datasets.
The awards recognise the excellent and innovative analyses carried out and promote best practice research methodologies and data matching or linking. The awards promote greater awareness and understanding of the data made available and the public good achieved from statistical analyses of the data.
Awards will be decided by an independent judging panel made up of experts from across the research community.
Awards will be presented at our Research Capability event on Thursday 4 December 2025, by a senior ONS representative.
2. Awards
This year, we are delighted to offer five award categories.
Impact of Analysis Award
Nominations should include clear examples of how the research project has demonstrated excellence in methodology, collaboration, communication and presentation of research, and public benefit or impact. This research should have used secure data owned or managed by the ONS, using a Trusted Research Environment (TRE). The work must have produced at least one new publicly visible impactful output or outcome within the last 18 months.
Government-led Impact of Analysis Award
This award recognises impactful research projects led by a UK government department or body that demonstrates successful collaboration across sectors. Eligible projects must have used secure data owned or managed by the ONS, using a Trusted Research Environment (TRE). The award is open to teams or individual analysts who have contributed to publicly visible outcome or insights within the past 18 months. To qualify, the research must include collaboration with another organisation (other than the applicant's own) at one or more key stages of the research process.
Data Creation Award
This award recognises the vital work involved in creating, enhancing, or preparing secure datasets for use within the ONS Data Service (SRS or IDS). It celebrates efforts such as data engineering, linkage, enrichment, or improvements to metadata and documentation that have made secure data more accessible, functional, or usable for research. Eligible projects must have delivered data to the SRS or IDS within the past 18 months, or be in the process of delivering data. .
Organisational Innovation Award
This award celebrates organisations that have gone above and beyond to facilitate access, for their own staff, to secure data provided by ONS data services (SRS or IDS). It recognises initiatives, within the last 18 months that have improved infrastructure, capability, or support---such as enabling connectivity, providing secure environments, supporting DEA accreditation, or delivering training.
ONS People's Choice Award
All eligible entries will automatically be entered into the People's Choice Award, which will be open to all to cast their votes.
You may apply for more than one category, but we will limit the number of awards an applicant can win. For any eligibility enquiries please contact the ONS Research Excellence Awards team.
3. Applying
Applying for the ONS Research Excellence Awards is simple. You can submit an application via our easy-to-use online application form, which enables you to complete the sections relevant to your submission, offering comprehensive guidance along the way.
Applications for the Research Excellence Awards are now open. You can submit your application by completing our online form.
Nominations close at midnight on Monday 22 September 2025.
If you have any questions about the awards, or would like further information, please email us.
4. Examples of previous award winners
For our 2024 Research Excellence Awards, we awarded seven innovative and diverse research projects across six awards. You can familiarise yourself with some of these before applying.
Impact of Analysis Award
Joint winners:
Dr Katie Hunter, Manchester Metropolitan University
Project title: Understanding the intersections between ethnicity, care experience and youth justice involvement
This project used newly linked administrative datasets from the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education to explore how children who have been in out of home care and children from racially minoritised backgrounds are disproportionately drawn into the youth justice system in England.
Read the highlighted publication on the ADR UK website to learn more.
Watch the related animation on YouTube.
Allen Joseph and Whitney Crenna-Jennings, Education Policy Institute
Project title: Early adult outcomes for suspended and excluded pupils
This research demonstrated that young people who are suspended during secondary school experience a range of poorer outcomes in late adolescence and early adulthood compared with their peers.
Read the highlighted publication from the Education Policy Institute to learn more.
Impact of Analysis Award – Collaboration with Government
Christina Palmou (Office for National Statistics), Jakob Schneebacher (Competition and Markets Authority) and Thiemo Fetzer (University of Warwick)
Project title: How do firms cope with economic shocks in real time?
This work built a new toolbox of high-frequency linked microdata, to estimate firm responses to economic shocks in near real-time.
Read the highlighted publication from the Competition and Markets Authority website to learn more.
Secure Data Creation Award
The ECHILD Team, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health at University College London
Project title: Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD)
The ECHILD project has enabled linkage of multi-agency data to provide a more holistic understanding of children's lives and how they interact with services spanning health, education and social care.
Learn more on the ECHILD website.
Organisational Excellence Award
The DRAGoN Team, University of the West of England Bristol
Project title: Data Research, Access and Governance Network (DRAGoN)
This multi-disciplinary research group brought together researchers and practitioners from academia, think-tanks, industry and government to help improve tools, operations and skills in relation to output checking in Trusted Research Environments.
Learn more on the DRAGoN website.
ADR UK Research Excellence Award
Dr Kitty Lymperopoulou, University of Plymouth
Project title: Ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System
This research addressed knowledge gaps on wide ethnic disparities in the Criminal Justice System highlighted in recent government reports. It provided evidence on the extent and drivers of ethnic disparities, identifying effective ways of addressing them.
Read the highlighted publication from the British Journal of Criminology to learn more.
ONS People's Choice Award
The Virus Watch Team, University College London
Project title: Virus Watch
This work led to the creation of a new linked dataset in 2020, that provides evidence on which public health approaches are most effective in reducing transmission, and investigating community incidence, symptoms, and transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) in relation to population movement and behaviours. Learn more on the Virus Watch website.
5. More information
If you have any questions about the ONS Research Excellence Awards, please email IDS.Impact@ons.gov.uk.