SLS Winter Newsletter 2025/26
The Scottish Longitudinal Study team wish all our service users a very happy festive season!
This is our latest newsletter, covering:
- the exciting release of our Data Dictionary in Excel version
- a change to our practice around outputs – all Stage 2 (final) outputs will need to be submitted for clearance, and we can no longer allow re-use of previously cleared outputs
- the various events we’ve attended in 2025 to promote the SLS
The Safe Setting will be closed from Friday 19th December 2025, and will reopen on Tuesday 6th January 2026.
Have a nice break, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Summer is here! We have been busy looking at our processes while continuing to support projects.
You can find all the latest updates in our Summer 2025 newsletter. (PDF 2MB)
If you have any query, please get in touch with your support officer or email sls@lscs.ac.uk
We are scheduling a change to SLS service and a service outage. Within the next couple of months we will upgrade our IT infrastructure (further details will be shared nearer the time once the IT changeover date is confirmed), the consequence of which is that EPCC, the provider of the new IT system, have planned a complete outage to occur from Friday 29 August to Monday 15 September 2025, to allow for essential maintenance.
This will be a complete outage, during which there will be no researcher or staff access to the SLS data, as such, we will also be unable to process Stage (1) Pre-publication Output SDC requests during that period.
We recognise that this interruption may impact ongoing projects and appreciate that the timing may be challenging. This work is essential for the integrity of the service.
To support your projects, the SLS-DSU team are available to assist with Stage (1) Pre-publication Output SDC requests checks in advance of the outage.
- Due to anticipated demand, we kindly ask that all disclosure output requests are submitted by Monday 4 August.
We will continue to keep you informed as planning progresses and will share further updates, as they are available.
If you have any questions or require assistance in preparing for the outage, please do get in touch.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation while this critical work is carried out.
Dr Tom Clemens, our SLS Director of Impact & Engagement & Dr Paul Norman, University of Leeds, champion the uniqueness of using the ONS and SLS datasets, sharing insights on using the LSs productively in this informative podcast. Valuable tips on accessing and using the datasets are shared.
And accompanying blog https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/linking-our-lives/
Episode 4, Series 3 of Linking Our Lives Podcasts produced by CeLSIUS
The SLS Safe Setting will be closed for Easter on Friday 18th to Monday 21st April 2025.
It will reopen for bookings as usual on Tuesday 22nd April.
Please get in touch with Sandrine (sandrine.flower@ed.ac.uk) if you would like to book into the Safe Setting.
Happy Easter to all our service users!
Happy New Year from the SLS Team. Here is our newsletter (PDF 2MB)
Wishing all our service users a very happy festive season. The last Safe Setting day will be Thursday 19th December (staff contactable on 20th Dec).
The Safe Setting will reopen again on Wed 8th Jan 2025 (staff available from Mon 6th Jan).
Have a wonderful break everyone.
The SLS Team are expanding! We have 2 exciting job opportunities to add to our existing team.
Head of Research Support Service: closing date 19/09/24
Administrative Assistant: closing 18/09/24
We look forward to meeting you
The SLS-DSU & Safe Setting will be closed for Easter on Friday 29th March and Monday 1st April.
Wishing all our service users a Happy Easter.
Our Christmas Newsletter is available here
