SATRE: Standardised Architecture for Trusted Research Environments

A DARE UK Driver Project

The need for trusted research environments (TREs) is clear. Personal or sensitive data which have been collected for operational, commercial or governmental reasons need to be managed securely and safely for research use in an environment that encourages best practice.

TREs are designed to enable access to sensitive data only for authorised projects and researchers, whilst minimising risk of data release or exposure. Influential reports from DARE UK and Health Data Research UK, together with the UK Government Goldacre review and ‘Data Saves Lives’ policy paper, have all highlighted the need for change in how sensitive data are handled.

SATRE will compare openly available UK TREs hosting health, manufacturing, commercial, science and humanities data and bring them into alignment with a standardised TRE reference architecture (or structural template). The development teams at the University of Dundee’s Health Informatics Centre and the Alan Turing Institute, fully supported by their infrastructure partners, will lead the reference alignment in collaboration with a consortium of higher education, charity and industry organisations.

The reference architecture and its implementation will be informed and strengthened by a programme of community building and engagement with DARE UK and partner working groups, other stakeholders and inclusive public representation. SATRE outputs will include an informed TRE reference technical specification and a collection of educational media and detailed reports – all supporting DARE UK’s aim of a coordinated national data research infrastructure.

Principal investigator: Dr Christian Cole, University of Dundee

Project partners: University of Dundee, Ulster University, UCL, Health Data Research UK, The Alan Turing Institute, Research Data Scotland

Funded amount: £614,112

Contact: satre-contact@dundee.ac.uk

Find out more about the DARE UK Driver Projects.

Project outputs