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How to access : What you need to become an accredited researcher

To become an accredited researcher, you must:

If you meet these criteria, you can apply through the Research Accreditation Service (RAS) (opens in a new tab) 

You do not need to re-apply if you are already accredited.

As part of your application you will need to complete our safe researcher training and pass a final assessment.

Once you have successfully completed your assessment, you will receive an email from the RAS team confirming your accredited researcher status.

In the current beta phase we estimate that the researcher accreditation process may take three to five weeks.

Details like your first, last and organisation name will be published in a public register on the UK Statistics Authority website (opens in a new tab) 

This is a requirement under the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017.

If you have any questions about the application process, email IDS.customer.support@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab) 

Skills you will need

To work with data in the Integrated Data Service (IDS) you will need to have experience with using open-source programming languages. IDS uses BigQuery to run SQL and Vertex AI Notebooks that run Python and R. These notebooks are based on open-source Jupyter notebooks.

You should be comfortable with using these to:

  • import and export data
  • manipulate data
  • perform analysis using code
  • create basic data visualisations

If you are not familiar with these languages, the Data Science Campus offers introductory R and Python training courses to government analysts (opens in a new tab) 

There are also courses on learning Python and R available through Codecademy (opens in a new tab) 

Further guidance on modelling techniques is available in the Government Analysis Function quality assurance for coding in analysis or research (QACAR) guidance (opens in a new tab) 

The service also uses GitHub for version control and to enable better collaboration.

As the IDS evolves and responds to the needs of our users, we may introduce new tools to help analysts and researchers work with their data efficiently.

You can email the IDS Customer Support team for more information at IDS.customer.support@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)