From left, associate vice-president, Northern Medical Program and regional dean, Northern B.C., UBC Faculty of Medicine Dr. Paul Winwood, Statistics Canada regional manager, microdata access division, Dr. Lisa Oliver, UNBC RDC academic director Dr. Cindy Hardy and UNBC vice-president research and graduate programs Dr. Geoff Payne – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – UNBC celebrated the opening of its new Research Data Centre today.

The new centre – located inside the Geoffrey R. Weller Library – will provide a secure connection to Statistics Canada including access to household survey and administrative microdata.

Previously, UNBC researchers had to travel to larger centres, including Vancouver and Ottawa, to access the computers necessary to conduct their work.

UNBC is now one of 29 university campuses across Canada to host a Research Data Centre.

“The Research Data Centre is a meaningful addition to UNBC’s research capacity,” says UNBC president Dr. Daniel Weeks. “It will facilitate microdata analysis by UNBC researchers as they seek answers to questions facing British Columbians and Canadians.”

The Research Data Centre received support from Statistics Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Northern Medical Program and Northern Health.

UNBC says the start up costs for the Research Data Centre are about $67,000 while the annual operating costs are $64,000.