Call for expressions of interest – Adzuna data

‍Deadline: Monday 29 July 2024

Background

UBDC invites expressions of interest from applicants interested in using Adzuna job listings data for non-commercial academic research projects. Adzuna is a search engine for job advertisements in the UK and provides data about the job market. Adzuna searches thousands of websites to bring together information on millions of advertisements on their service.

The dataset consists of full point-in-time snapshots with details of all advertisements which were on adzuna.co.uk Frequency is weekly. Data are available from Spring 2017 to the present, and will continue to be collected through to Spring 2025. Please see Adzuna data profile for further information about the contents of the dataset.

Eligibility

Applications are encouraged from researchers looking to undertake academic projects with a strong potential for scientific and public benefit impact. Many of these are likely to be in fields connected with the labour market and the economy but applications from any field will be considered. Methodological studies are eligible as well as those with a substantive focus. Applicants may propose combining Adzuna data with other sources provided access to all data sources can be confirmed before the Adzuna licence is agreed.

Projects are expected to be up to 2 years duration, this includes all time for completing published outputs, in most cases although UBDC may be able to support longer projects. Academic staff and PhD students from UK universities may apply. The licences permit use of the data by named researchers for research purposes but not for teaching.

Assessment Criteria

UBDC has a limited number of licenses so the process of allocating these will be a competitive one. The criteria against which proposals will be assessed are as follows:

1. The potential for original scientific contribution, substantive or methodological in any field or discipline;

2. The potential for wider impacts on society, economy or environment;

3. The willingness of the research team to participate in activities to build a community of researchers using these data, add to knowledge about the data and share resources including code.

UBDC may also select projects so as to achieve some balance in terms of the subjects, fields or disciplines covered, and the career stage of the researchers. Successful projects will be listed on UBDC’s website.

Application Procedure

The application procedure has two stages:

1. Interested applicants should complete the project summary form with information about the researchers, a project outline, data requirements, proposed outputs and outcomes, and timescales. UBDC will email the full Adzuna project proposal form to eligible applicants and they will be required to complete and return the full proposal form by the deadline of Monday 29 July 2024.

2. UBDC staff will verify that the usage will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the licence, and that the spatial and temporal coverage of the dataset is likely to meet the project requirements. Depending on the number of applications, UBDC research staff may conduct an initial assessment against the criteria noted above. Project proposal forms will be sent to shortlisted researchers. The deadline for submission of the project proposal form is 29 July 2024.

3. Depending on demand in this round, UBDC may issue a second call for expressions of interest later this year.

Selection Procedure

UBDC staff, including senior researchers, will review the proposal forms at first and second stages and agree the selection. All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application. UBDC’s decision will be final and not subject to appeal.

Successful applicants will be required to complete the UBDC Access Agreement and an End User Licence Agreement to ensure compliance with terms and conditions for the dataset before the data is shared.

Transfer of data

On receipt of the signed licence agreements, UBDC Data Service will transfer the files securely to the applicant. Data will require to be stored on password-protected University systems. Access must be limited to those named on the proposal. The Data Service team will provide ongoing support to ensure applicants can download and access files, understand and utilise the data.

The Data Service team will be in touch with the researcher to request information on progress, as well as outcomes and outputs enabled by utilising the data, including policy papers, publications and presentations at conferences. UBDC encourages sharing of experiences of using data with the wider research community and there will be future webinars scheduled to facilitate knowledge-sharing.

We look forward to receiving your applications via the project summary form.