A pioneering team whose work began at the University of Southampton and now stretches across the globe is celebrating a landmark anniversary.
Academics, software engineers, data technicians and support staff are marking 25 years of helping to connect teams working on groundbreaking research across the UK and beyond.
Created by the University of Southampton's Clinical Informatics Research Unit (CIRU), EDGE is an award-winning software system used by researchers in hospitals, universities, charities and community health services.
By providing researchers real-time access to accurate study data, EDGE enables them to track progress, coordinate activity and oversee participant recruitment in a safe and secure way.
Improved data quality frees up valuable time, allowing teams to focus on patient care and deliver faster treatment.
Professor James Batchelor, CIRU's Director and EDGE founder, said: "EDGE began as a way of giving research teams smarter and more connected ways of working. Twenty-five years on, it is helping to bring new treatments to patients quicker by supporting thousands of professionals to strengthen the quality of research.
"We're incredibly proud of all the people who have worked so hard to make EDGE what it is. This is a Southampton success story, and we are looking forward to the future as we work towards making it the most trusted, intelligent, research management system for clinical research professionals around the world."
Carly Ringrose, Cancer Research Sister from Southampton Cancer Research UK, added: "The EDGE system helps us deliver gold standard care day to day. It allows us to access information on any of our trials from wherever we are in a timely manner and we know that the information we are accessing is the current approved version. Not only is this time saving but it ensures that we are collecting the specific data that is needed and helps prevent errors."
EDGE is currently used in more than 90 per cent of England's NHS regions, as well as in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and across Canada, New Zealand, Cyprus and India.
The EDGE team kick-started their anniversary year with a silver jubilee conference celebrating 25 years of sharing, learning and innovating with their community of users.
