They are the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. They support independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and civil society. Their total budget for 2017-18 is around £202 million. At any one time they support over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.
They are a non-departmental public body (NDPB) established by Royal Charter in 1965 and receive most of their funding through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Their research is rigorous and authoritative, as they support independent, high-quality, relevant social science.
They offer:
Their role is to:
They are committed to supporting the very best research, with scientific excellence the primary criterion for funding. All their funding opportunities are highly competitive and only those proposals judged by experts in the field to be of the highest scientific quality are supported.
They play a key role in promoting and supporting training for the UK social science community throughout their careers. They invest in high-quality research training and development opportunities to produce skilled researchers who are able to tackle the most pressing social and economic challenges and have a broader impact on society.
Partnerships bring a wealth of opportunities to the social sciences, from the development of researchers skilled in knowledge exchange to creating maximum impact of their research on society’s most complex challenges. Building strategic partnerships with academia, the public and private sectors, and civil society is a key aspect of their work.
Researchers require access to world-class data and pioneering research methods to deliver high quality research and maximise impact. They take a strategic lead in driving the expansion of the UK's data infrastructure and supporting cutting-edge methodological developments.
They are an international leader in the social sciences. They foster international collaboration with a wide range of international partners and, through joint schemes, they enable UK social scientists to collaborate on challenging global issues with the very best international researchers from around the world.
They work to raise public awareness of social science and they encourage involvement in research that will translate into benefits for society and individuals.
They began in 1965 as the Social Science Research Council and in 1983 they became the Economic and Social Research Council.