LEMMA 1 was a node in the first phase of the ESRC-funded National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM).  The mission of NCRM is to provide a strategic focal point for the identification, development and delivery of an integrated national research, training and capacity-building programme.

LEMMA 1 had three inter-related themes:

1. Methodological developments in the specification and estimation of multilevel models for handling realistic complexity in data structures and social processes. 
2. A variety of integrated substantive research projects using this methodology to investigate important social science questions.
3. Extensive training and capacity building in the analysis of data with complex structure, including the development of an online course in multilevel modelling.

Under LEMMA 1 (and its successors LEMMA 2 and LEMMA 3) an unrestricted version of the MLwiN software is freely available to UK academics.