ESRA 2027 sessions by theme
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Scientific Use Files: still fit for purpose? Uses, methods, and perspectives of SUFs |
| Coordinator 1 | Ms Julie BARON (French Institute for Demographic Studies (Ined)) |
| Coordinator 2 | Mr Lucas BOURCIER (French Institute for Demographic Studies (Ined)) |
| Coordinator 3 | Ms Frédérique GROS (French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)) |
| Coordinator 4 | Ms Nadège Ferrer-Pradines (The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) |
Session Details
Scientific Use Files (SUFs) have become a cornerstone of data dissemination policies through which research institutions and statistical offices make survey data available to researchers and students.
Yet both aggregated open data’s development and detailed data accessible through Trusted Research Environments raises questions about the distinct role and added value of SUFs within the data-access ecosystem. As a result, the extent of anonymisation, balancing confidentiality with analytical utility, must be regularly reassessed, and the methods employed must incorporate recent computational advances.
Against this backdrop, this session invites presentations on the construction and use of SUFs around four topics:
-Methods for constructing SUFs. What are the recent innovations in methods and practices for ensuring data confidentiality? Are research institutions and statistical offices converging towards shared approaches regarding the methodological paradigm to be favoured, the sensitivity level assigned to variables, or the concrete rules governing the degree of anonymity required?
-The concrete use of SUFs by the scientific community. Who uses SUFs and why? How is the type and number of users evolving?
-Beyond licence agreements: guidance, tooling and output checking for SUF users. What could be a realistic security baseline for researchers? Encryption, access control within teams, institutional versus personal machines, cloud storage and hosting, secure deletion at project end: what can reasonably be required of SUF users? How to ensure that published results from SUF are compliant with confidentiality rules ? What tools can ensure good and efficient output checkings practices ?
-The place and future of SUFs within the data-access ecosystem. What comparative advantages do SUFs retain over other data formats and levels of granularity, particularly detailed data accessible in secure environments? How are increasing data protection and security requirements reshaping their provision? How can SUFs evolve to comply with these requirements while preserving accessibility and analytical value?
