25 January 2005
New Website Will Offer Access To Social Science Research
Created by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) - the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training on social and economic issues - ESRC Society Today will provide academics, students and researchers with a free digest of social sciences research available, planned and in progress.
As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research, the website will provide a gateway to other key online resources from the UK such as Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG), the UK Data Archive and the Office of National Statistics - as well as international coverage from services such as Europa and Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
ESRC Society Today will offer a broad picture of the latest research on the full range of social science subjects, including early findings, full texts and original data sets. Users can also establish online discussion fora, track down researchers in their key subject fields or find details on ESRC funding and training opportunities.
Ian Diamond, Chief Executive of the ESRC, says: "ESRC Society Today combines our previous websites at www.esrc.ac.uk and www.regard.ac.uk with information from a number of other high quality sources - offering users the broadest range of high quality UK social science research all in one place. Of particular benefit to users will be the site's 'intelligent' Autonomy search engine which familiarises itself with the interests and requirements of individual users - so the more someone visits the site the more intuitive the experience becomes. Users can also register for regular news bulletins and email alerts on their areas of interest - to stay abreast of the latest research in their field efficiently and effectively."
To encourage non-academic visitors the site will also feature plain-English summaries of research findings, quick facts and figures, presentation slides and topical articles on subjects as diverse as pensions, the environment, lifestyles, terrorism and ageing.
Librarians are invited to register for further details of the new website www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk - which is available in test phase from March 2005 and due to be launched in April 2005 - by emailing societytoday@esrc.ac.uk
|
News Stories 
