University of Liverpool researchers have been awarded circa £2.9 million in funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for a project that will transform the way NHS data is used for research.
Dr Rebecca Wilson leads DataSHIELD, an innovative open-source software platform that enables researchers to analyse sensitive health data without physically moving, sharing or viewing it. She will lead the new Federated North project alongside Dr Olly Butters, a Research Technical Professional working at the interface between academic and NHS research as part of the NIHR Advanced Research Collaboration North West Coast.
The newly-funded Federated North project will expand and enhance DataSHIELD to address a significant challenge in modern health research: how to use the UK's vast health and social care data - resources from GP surgeries, hospitals and academic research studies - across the recently established NHS regional secure data environments in England, while maintaining patient privacy.
"Health data is one of the NHS's most valuable assets for research, but we need to ensure it is used in a way that respects patient confidentiality and public trust," said Dr Wilson. "This project will allow researchers to conduct powerful analyses across multiple regions without compromising data security or individual privacy."
Advancing health data research in Northern England
The NHS has established the secure data environment network, a series of regional secure data hubs across England, forming a decentralised system to manage health data safely. The Federated North initiative will focus on implementing and adapting DataSHIELD within this new infrastructure-specifically across hubs in the North of England.
Through this funding, the collaboration led by Dr Wilson and Dr Butters will:
- Adapt DataSHIELD to work seamlessly with NHS digital infrastructures and be compatible with international systems in Germany and the United States.
- Enhance software capabilities to deliver real-time, privacy-preserving results and ensure compatibility with other analytical tools.
- Embed cutting-edge privacy protections aligned with evolving UK data governance guidelines, supporting safe, transparent data use.
- Co-design with public and professional stakeholders, ensuring the technology reflects social values and promotes trust in health data research.
Global impact
The project initially focuses on Northern England including the North East, North West, and Yorkshire & Humber where there is a large range in health inequality, with consistently worse health outcomes than other regions in England. We will enable data analysis across Northern England without transferring patient information, ensuring the characteristics of local populations are represented in cross regional analyses.
The work will also improve the reproducibility and transparency of health research, positioning the UK-and the University of Liverpool-as leaders in privacy-preserving, federated data analysis.
About the DataSHIELD
DataSHIELD is a pioneering platform developed for the secure analysis of sensitive data across institutional boundaries. Unlike traditional methods, DataSHIELD enables analysis without exposing individual-level data, upholding confidentiality and supporting compliance with ethical and legal standards.
With this new investment, DataSHIELD will be expanded and enhanced to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving health data landscape.
The Federated North project is a collaboration across Northern England that includes the Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - who together are uniquely placed to facilitate implementation within the project's contributing partners - the NHS England North West and the Yorkshire and Humber Secure Data Environments.
Additional specialist expertise is provided by Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Arjuna Technologies Ltd, EPIGENY and NFDI4Health, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke.
The grant is co-funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Department of Health and Social Care via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and was awarded through the MRC-NIHR Enhancing biomedical and health-related data and digital platform resources call.
