R is a programming language designed for statistical computing and data analysis. It excels at data manipulation, analysis, and visualization through its vast collection of statistical functions and user-contributed packages. Widely used by data scientists and researchers, R is particularly valuable for statistical modelling, machine learning, and creating data visualizations across fields like biostatistics and finance.
In late June 2025, Y-PERN Policy Fellow Dan Olner delivered an introductory workshop on “using R for regional economic analysis,” hosted by ONS Local. The session demonstrated R’s accessibility with participants working directly in their browsers using open data and reusable code, eliminating traditional barriers to getting started.
Workshop Structure and Resources
The online session slides serve as a comprehensive step-by-step guide, walking participants through the complete workflow from initial setup in R through to advanced analysis and visualization of regional economic data. This self-contained resource ensures participants can revisit and build upon the material at their own pace.
Key Objectives
The workshop addressed three critical challenges in regional economic analysis:
End-to-end transparency: Participants followed the complete data pipeline from source to output, using ONS Excel sheets that are automatically processed from the web. This approach demystifies the analytical process and builds confidence in working with official statistics.
Reproducible methodology: By demonstrating how open data and standardized methods streamline common analytical tasks, the session showed how to avoid duplicating effort while building toward shared analytical standards and reliable results across the community.
Collaborative capacity building: The workshop fostered knowledge sharing within an open network, enabling participants to develop skills collectively and support each other’s professional growth.
Looking Forward
This session marks the beginning of an ongoing series designed to build analytical capacity across the regional economics community. Additional workshops are planned to deepen these foundations and explore more advanced applications.
You can view other ONS Local Presents events on Eventbrite for details of all future events.
