Nine projects funded to inform development of novel and innovative national data research infrastructure

DARE UK and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are delighted to announce the award of over £2 million to fund nine research teams to deliver a programme of Sprint Exemplar Projects.

The purpose of the projects is to uncover and test early thinking in the development of a more joined-up and trustworthy national data research infrastructure. This is to support cross-domain analysis of sensitive data at scale for public good.

The Sprint Exemplar Projects will develop potential use cases, demonstrate the technology and explore best practice for the governance, ethical and public engagement and involvement aspects of developing a more coordinated data research infrastructure. Each of the projects crosses different research sectors and UKRI research council remits.

The funding has been awarded as a result of an open call for proposals which ran from September to November 2021. All applications received in response to the call – of which there were 25 in total – were assessed by an independent panel of experts, with the nine successful projects scoring highest in terms of excellence, novelty and diversity.

The projects will all run for eight months from January to August 2022. The funded projects include:

TREEHOOSE: Investigating the use of trusted research environment enclaves for hosting open, original science exploration, led by researchers at the University of Dundee
PRiAM: Exploring privacy risk assessment methodology, led by researchers at the University of Southampton
STEADFAST: Education outcomes in young people with diabetes – innovative involvement and governance to support public trust, led by researchers at Cardiff University and Diabetes UK
Creating a federated, cloud-based trusted research environment to facilitate collaborative research between existing institutions, led by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute
Overcoming technical and governance barriers to support innovation and interdisciplinary research in trusted research environments, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh
FED-NET: Creating the blueprint for a federated network of next generation, cross-council trusted research environments, led by researchers at University Hospitals Birmingham
Multi-party trusted research environment federation: Establishing infrastructure for secure analysis across different clinical-genomic datasets
FAIR TREATMENT: Federated analytics and artificial intelligence research across trusted research environments for child and adolescent mental health, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge
GRAIMatter: Guidelines and resources for artificial intelligence model access from trusted research environments, led by researchers at the University of Dundee

For more information about each of the projects and what they are exploring, please visit the Sprint Exemplar Projects page.

Hans-Erik G. Aronson, Director of DARE UK (Phase 1), said: “These nine ambitious Sprint Exemplar Projects form a vital element of the first phase of the DARE UK programme. They will provide crucial insights into how the UK’s data research infrastructure can work in a more joined-up and trustworthy way, to better meet the needs of researchers and wider society whilst maintaining the confidence of the public. I am hugely excited to track the progress of each of these important projects, and to see what their final outputs mean for future phases of DARE UK.”

Justin O’Byrne, Co-Director of Digital Research Infrastructure at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), said: “We are delighted to see these nine projects supported. They represent a key element of the DARE UK programme as well as the wider UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure ambitions. We look forward to seeing the ongoing outcomes from this Phase 1 work.”

On Tuesday 8 February, 12-1:30pm, we will be holding a webinar as an opportunity for you to meet the Sprint Exemplar Project teams. At the event, which is open to all, you will learn more about what we hope will be achieved through the Sprints, and hear from each of the teams about their project. It is also an opportunity to ask DARE UK and the researchers any questions you may have. Find out more and register to attend.

DARE UK is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), with Phase 1: Design and Dialogue being led by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK).