14  Process to access ECHILD

Substantive employees and PhD students at a UK university/institution who are Accredited Researchers can apply to access ECHILD. PhD students must be supervised by a fully accredited substantive employee who takes responsibility for the project. The following is the process to apply to access ECHILD data:

  1. Obtain Full Accredited Researcher status.
  2. Familiarise yourself with the ECHILD User Guide and Data Catalogue.
  3. Ensure that your institution has Assured Organisational Connectivity certified by the ONS Secure Research Service, or alternatively, check you can access the SafePod Network.
  4. Contact the ECHILD team at UCL to discuss feasibility: [email protected]
  5. We recommend completing the UKSA Ethics self-assessment, but it is not compulsory.
  6. Complete a project Application Form and a Data Request Form, and submit to the ECHILD team.
    Note: We aim to provide feedback within 2 weeks of receiving a completed application form.
  7. Once your application has been approved by UCL, you will submit your application to the ONS PASS system for project accreditation.
    Note: applications take an average of 10 weeks to be processed by ONS.
  8. Finally, your organisation will need to sign a non-negotiable Data Access Agreement (sublicense) with UCL.