Our mission is to accelerate trustworthy use of health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives.

Our 20-year vision is for large-scale data to benefit every interaction with patients, every clinical trial and every biomedical discovery, and to transform public health.

We work in partnership with the NHS, industry, charities and universities to realise the potential of the UK’s health data in life-changing research. Patients and the public are actively involved in shaping HDR UK’s work and ensuring it delivers public benefit.

Our strategy focuses on three five-year objectives.

Accelerate trustworthy data use by sorting the data

  • Make it easier and quicker for researchers to find, access and use high-quality, large-scale data
  • Fix the technical challenges needed for swift, safe and secure data use, by assembling innovative infrastructure solutions
  • Increase health research efficiency and productivity by accelerating adoption of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reuseable) data principles

Improve people’s lives by unlocking the power of data

  • Deliver cutting-edge research that harnesses large-scale data to change health policy and practice
  • Exemplify trustworthy data use to deliver research that was previously impossible
  • Test and improve the infrastructure so it serves all researchers
    • Research Driver Programmes: Five UK-wide Research Driver Programmes will harness the power of large-scale data to deliver ground-breaking scientific impacts and infrastructure innovation.
    • BHF Data Science Centre: Enabling data-led research to improve heart and circulatory health.
    • Regional Networks: Health Data Research UK is the national institute for health data science. We are an institute without walls working with partners across the four nations of the UK.

Shape the future of health data research

  • Connect data, people and organisations to bring about cultural change and realise the UK’s potential to be at the forefront of health data innovation
  • Develop people and teams with diverse perspectives and skills needed to deliver health data research
  • Embed good practice in patient and public engagement and involvement to build confidence in health data research for public benefit by increasing transparency and trustworthiness.
    • UK Health Data Research Alliance (the ‘Alliance’): The Alliance is an independent alliance of leading healthcare and research organisations united to establish best practice for the ethical use of UK health data for research at scale.
    • Study and Train: Explore a career in health data science, or advance your skills, with our opportunities to study and train.
    • Involving and engaging patients and the public: It’s vital we learn about the needs and experiences of the UK’s patients and the public, by involving them in how health data is collected, shared, and used for research. Their thoughts and opinions matter. Here, you can learn how to get involved or more about what we do.

Explore our Policies and Commitments