Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) is the latest organisation to join ELIXIR-UK, a network of member organisations that provides bioinformatics resources to support the wider data research community.

ELIXIR-UK is the UK node of ELIXIR, a life sciences research infrastructure that connects hundreds of organisations and scientists across Europe. It coordinates and develops services and training to make it easier for researchers to find, analyse and share life sciences data, enabling them to gain greater insights into public health, the environment and the economy.

By joining ELIXIR-UK, HDR UK brings its expertise in health data science to the network. Since being founded in 2018, the Institute has transformed the use of large-scale health data for research, enabled by the application of cutting-edge data science approaches – including the use of Trusted Research Environments – to address some of the most pressing public health challenges in society.

Our strategy over the next five years is to increase the scale, quality, speed and impact of health data research. Being a member of ELIXIR-UK both complements and enhances HDR UK’s continued efforts to accelerate the trustworthy use of health and related data for research.

HDR UK is pleased to be joining an international consortium committed to advancing data science through the coordination and integration of FAIR (Findable Accessible Interoperable and Reproducible) data, tools, standards and training across its network. ELIXIR-UK offers numerous benefits and opportunities to support, learn from and add value to this agenda through its extensive scientific programmes and community building activities.

Emily Jefferson, Chief Technology Officer at HDR UK, commented:

“We are delighted to be joining ELIXIR-UK and look forward to sharing our expertise in health data science and collaborating with other members to support and deliver FAIR data infrastructure across the life sciences sector.”

Emily will be joining the ELIXIR-UK steering committee as the HDR UK representative.

The UK node of ELIXIR is coordinated by the Earlham Institute. HDR UK is the most recent organisation to join ELIXIR-UK, bringing the total number of member organisations to 25.

Carole Goble, Joint Head of Node, ELIXIR-UK said:

“ELIXIR-UK and HDR UK have been working together on a shared vision and joint delivery of techniques, technology, and standards for FAIR data management and multi-TRE data analytics. We are delighted to welcome HDR UK to the Node.”

We are excited to play an active role in making bioinformatics resources more accessible to data research community, both within the UK and more widely across Europe.