For immediate release
ESRC SOCIETY TODAY CELEBRATES SIX MONTH SUCCESS FOR ONLINE RESEARCH RESOURCE
A major online project designed to encourage wider access to funded social
and economic research has attracted almost a quarter of a million unique
visitors in its first six months of life.
WWW.ESRCSOCIETYTODAY.AC.UK - launched in May 2005 by the Economic & Social
Research Council - provides academics, students and researchers with a
valuable, free digest of social sciences research available, planned and in
progress.
Covering funded research on everything from crime, ageing and social
exclusion to education, finance and environmental policy, the website also
cross-searches material from a range of other national and international
sites including the Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG), the Social
Science Research Network (SSRN) and the UK Data Archive.
Crucially, material is presented in a number of different formats – ranging
from brief news stories and plain-English summaries, to full research
papers and datasets for those who need them. An expanding series of Facts
and Figures sheets are also on offer, which give top-line statistics and
bullet-point information on a range of key topics and incorporate helpful
charts, tables and downloadable presentation slides.
ESRC Society Today editor, Cormac Connolly, says: “The real benefit for
academic users is the website’s powerful Autonomy search and
personalisation features, which can be accessed by registering on the site.
“Autonomy familiarises itself with your interests, requirements - and even
behaviour - allowing you to save your favourite searches and run them again
at the press of a button. Registration also means that you can specify
particular topics to be alerted to by email as soon as relevant new content
is available.
“Work on ESRC Society Today is continuous and we are adding new content to
the site and refining usability on a daily basis. Our aim is that ESRC
Society Today will become the first port of call for all academics looking
for the latest social and economic research,” says Cormac.
For further information visit www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk or contact Cormac
Connolly at the ESRC on 01793 413 079.
Ends
November/December 2005
Issued on behalf of the Economic and Social Research Council by Harrison
Cowley.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. The ESRC is the UK’s largest funding agency for research and
postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides
independent, high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector
and Government. The ESRC invests more than £100m every year in social
science and at any time is supporting some 2,500 researchers in academic
institutions and research policy institutes.
2. ESRC Society Today consolidates the ESRC's online presence,
combining its previous websites www.esrc.ac.uk and www.regard.ac.uk with
information from a number of other high quality sources.
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