As part of the UK Data Service (UKDS) launch, social scientists from all sectors are invited to participate in a series of webinars introducing data and resources available through the service.

The Economic and Social Research Council is delighted to announce new funding of £64 million to be invested in Big Data. This forms part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's announcement of capital funding for the eight Great British technologies in his Autumn Statement detailing an additional £600m for science, research and innovation.

The ESRC is pleased to announce that the next British Election Study will be hosted by the University of Manchester in collaboration with Oxford University and Nottingham University.

The ESRC is pleased to participate as funding partner in the What Works Network. The aim of the network is to provide robust research evidence to guide decision-making on £200bn of public spending.

Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts has announced the reappointment of Dr Alan Gillespie CBE as the chair of the ESRC.

A number of prominent social scientists and ESRC grant holders have been honoured in the New Year Honours list. We are pleased to offer our congratulations to everyone honoured.

How can you capture the meaning of 'social sciences' and 'society today' in a single picture? This was the challenge of Portraits of Britain – a photographic competition organised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Festival of Social Science.

We are seeking applications to fill two vacancies for part-time membership on the ESRC's governing Council, which are expected to arise during 2013.

Data from waves 3 and 4 of the Understanding Society Innovation Panel are now available to download.

We wish to evaluate the use of UK address list information by academics, in light of the recent creation of the National Address Gazetteer.