UCT joins Eurostat as an accredited research institution

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has been formally accredited as a research institution with Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

This accreditation significantly expands UCT researchers’ access to high‑quality microdata from Europe, supporting comparative international research in areas such as economics, labour, public policy, inequality, household behaviour, and environmental indicators.

The initiative to seek Eurostat accreditation was driven by Dr Estelle Dauchy from the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP), who identified the need and pushed for UCT to pursue access. The process was facilitated by UCT eResearch, with Research Contracts & Innovation (RC&I) providing essential contractual and regulatory support throughout.

Eurostat provides access to harmonised, high‑quality, anonymised microdata covering multiple European surveys, including the Labour Force Survey (LFS), Household Budget Survey (HBS), Community Innovation Survey (CIS), Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), and Environmental and energy datasets. These datasets are widely used in international policy analysis, socio‑economic research, and comparative cross‑country modelling. Eurostat accreditation provides UCT researchers with a streamlined mechanism to apply for project‑specific access to these datasets under strict data protection conditions.

Dr Dauchy played a central role in initiating and guiding the accreditation process, drawing on her experience with Eurostat data for policy‑focused economic research.

“Access to Eurostat microdata opens up significant possibilities for UCT researchers working in fields where comparative international evidence is essential. I’m pleased that this accreditation will make future applications far more straightforward and allow more researchers at UCT to use these rich datasets,” she reflected.

Her collaboration with eResearch helped ensure that the compliance, legal, and security requirements were all met, enabling UCT to gain full institutional approval, which was finalised in December 2025.

How access works for UCT researchers

UCT’s Eurostat accreditation means researchers can now submit project‑specific applications through the Eurostat portal, with institutional approval processes currently supported by RC&I and eResearch.

UCT’s compliance documentation and institutional registration are already in place, significantly reducing administrative overhead for new applicants.

Future support

As UCT continues consolidating its research support services, responsibility for Eurostat‑related assistance will transition from to the UCT Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Services team. This will bring Eurostat support in line with other research visibility and open scholarship services provided by the Libraries.