Would you like to investigate an urban research problem using big, complex, or administrative data? If so, the UBDC is here to help. We provide access to novel and innovative urban data, as well as expert research support.

Our services include: access to our data collections, computing, data sourcing, and facilitating the use of controlled data. See Data services: Guide for researchers (PDF 9.8MB) for more information on how we can support your research. We have just opened our first Call for Expressions of Interest, so submit your research ideas today!  

Who can submit an interest form 

We welcome interest from:

• academics in any discipline (including Masters and PhD students);
• local authorities, government departments and public agencies;
• third sector organisations and businesses; and
• citizens with an interest in using data to understand and improve their local communities.  

Data available through the UBDC  

We are steadily growing our data collections and encourage you to think about using these data in your research. These include:  

• integrated Multimedia City Data (iMCD) Project: Glasgow household survey
• Spatial Urban Data System (SUDS) Urban Indicators
• Strava Metro Data: Cycling data covering Glasgow
• LiDAR: High resolution image data of the Earth's surface
• Nestoria: Data on the Glasgow and Paisley housing market
• Administrative data from governments and local authorities
• Open data

For detailed summaries on these data, click on the links above or refer to: Call for Expressions of Interest 2016: Data available through the UBDC (PDF 8.5MB).  

Using your own data

If your organisation holds data which you would like to work with, or if you have access to someone else's data to use in your research, we can provide expertise to help you get the most out of it. For example, we provide computing services support in big data management and processing. Additionally, if you have data which you would like to make available to other researchers to work on, we would be very happy to work with you to find potential partners. Or if you are a researcher who has an idea about some data you would like to access, we can use our experience of brokering data licensing or data sharing agreements to try to facilitate this.

Please keep in mind

• If you need research staff or other resources, you must provide these or the funds to support them. We have data scientists who can assist with proposal development, data sourcing and data management, but this resource is limited.
• There may be some restrictions for business users in terms of negotiating access to data, but we are happy to investigate options with you. 

Timescales - Submit your interest by March 2nd, 2016!   

To submit an Expression of Interest, please complete the brief web form below. Submissions are then reviewed by the UBDC. View Call for Expressions of Interest: Timescales (PDF 58KB) to see all of the key dates and deadlines. 

In some cases (e.g. if you only need data and no other support) we can register you as a user and supply you with data once you have signed an End User Licence Agreement.

Projects that require our services and meet our criteria will be assigned a UBDC proposal support contact and sent a full proposal form to complete (with our help) after 2nd March.   

Please note, the UBDC may not be able to support all projects submitted and final project proposals will be assessed by an independent review body to ensure quality, potential for impact, and appropriate use of UBDC resources.    

Contact us  

If you have any questions, please email UBDC Senior Business Manager, Sarah Currier in the first instance at [email protected].

Source: UBDC website