£18 million for DARE UK to support secure research on sensitive data

Starting this month, Phase 2 of the DARE UK programme will bring together Trusted Research Environments (TREs) across the UK to test and build new capabilities for a connected national network of secure data research infrastructures for better, faster, and safer research on sensitive data. TREs are highly secure computing environments that provide remote access to sensitive data (such as education, tax and benefits, and health datasets) for approved researchers to generate new understanding for public benefit and to improve people’s lives. 

The investment will support researchers using TREs to do faster and safer research with sensitive data, for example, through new capabilities in federated analysis and safe training of AI models. The DARE UK programme will continue to work with and convene stakeholders across the research ecosystem to deliver this in Phase 2.  

DARE UK will continue to receive funding through the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure programme, which invests in new capabilities and in evolving existing infrastructures to support new communities of practice. Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), the national institute for health data science, and Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK), a UK-wide partnership transforming public sector data into research assets and policy-relevant insights, will continue to oversee the management and delivery of the programme. 

Working with partners, Phase 2 will start to assemble and test the digital infrastructure required for research to tackle complex societal challenges. As DARE UK’s previous work has shown, this can deliver new insights into challenges such as long-term unemployment, children’s mental health, childhood obesity, and transforming the food economy. Phase 2 will be delivered through three key work programmes: 

• Transformational Programmes: Building new capabilities to support sensitive data research across the UK, supporting the testing and adoption of these capabilities, and demonstrating real-world scientific impact using these capabilities. These capabilities include support for federated projects, AI training, standardisation and interoperability. 

• Next-Generation Proof of Concepts: Developing prototypes of next-generation capabilities needed to enable future innovative sensitive data research. 

• Community Building, Engagement and Standards: Supporting a vibrant community of researchers, information governance professionals, computer scientists, technologists, public involvement and engagement practitioners, and software engineers. Through collaboration, the programme will promote information sharing and consensus building around common standards and good practice. 

The DARE UK programme will continue to be underpinned by public involvement and engagement (PIE) across all work programmes.  

The DARE UK programme was launched in July 2021 with funding for Phase 1 of £7.5 million. The successful delivery of Phase 1 identified key gaps and set the direction for a connected national network of secure data research infrastructures through: 

• A set of recommendations, built through a series of public workshops, for ensuring sensitive data research is carried out in ways the public can trust. 

• A set of strategic recommendations for the design and delivery of a national data research infrastructure, outlining seven core areas of need within the UK landscape. 

• A snapshot of the potential public benefit that sensitive data research can deliver for the UK. 

• Two portfolios of projects proving the feasibility of key concepts necessary for such a national infrastructure to become a reality. Concepts such as TRE standardisation, safe federated analysis of sensitive data, automation of TRE processes, and cross-domain data linkage to name a few (see the Sprint Exemplar Projects and Driver Projects). 

• Support for vibrant and diverse communities supporting the vision for a joined-up sensitive data research ecosystem. 

Phase 1 has proven the feasibility and demonstrated the demand for tooling to support answering ambitious interdisciplinary research questions while confirming the consensus that TREs are the way forward for executing data research using sensitive data.  

The findings from Phase 1 point towards an increase in the scale and impact of interdisciplinary scientific research using sensitive data to deliver public benefit and the rising demand from researchers for the necessary services to support such research. DARE UK aims to meet this scientific ambition by supporting the TRE ecosystem in the UK with a step-change in the scale of investment, innovation and collaboration in Phase 2. 

Professor Emily Jefferson, Interim Director of DARE UK and Chief Technology Officer of Health Data Research UK, said, “The insights and recommendations we gathered in Phase 1 have been instrumental in shaping this next phase, which will focus on building, testing, and establishing new Trusted Research Environment (TRE) capabilities as part of a connected national sensitive data research infrastructure. By continuing to engage with our diverse community of stakeholders and strengthening our public involvement efforts, we will work to ensure that public benefit research conducted using sensitive data can be done in a faster and more efficient way. We look forward to the collaborative journey ahead.” 

Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK, said, “The new funding for DARE UK is a vote of confidence in what the programme has already delivered and the potential for the UK in constructing a secure, connected national infrastructure that can be trusted by the public for research on sensitive data. Getting this right holds enormous promise for new insights into societal challenges that can improve our lives.”  

Dr Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK, said, “With more data than ever before now available across the UK’s secure research infrastructures, it is imperative the DARE UK programme proceeds into this delivery phase. It is only by building new capabilities for a connected national network of secure data research infrastructures that we will facilitate researchers being able to examine the interplay of different parts of life on societal outcomes and make comparisons across different parts of the UK.” 

Learn more about the DARE UK programme