Big Data for Complex Disease

Cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the two leading causes of death in the UK and around the world. Despite substantial advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these two major groups of diseases, their impact on public health has continued to rise as the world’s population ages. Addressing this requires approaches that recognise and exploit the power of whole, large population-scale health-relevant data to catalyse health data science and its translation to improved patient care.

We also need to break down traditionally siloed disease and expertise-specific domains, rising to the challenge of jointly addressing cancer, CVD and other complex diseases. Crucially, we need to use the intelligence gained to translate into real benefits for patients, as well as influence policy and best practice.

The Big Data for Complex Disease (BDCD) Driver Programme will address challenges that focus on deploying whole population, national linked health data.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity to bring together the best minds in the UK to address the two Big ‘C’s’ of human health, cancer and cardiovascular disease, which collectively kill over 320,000 people in the UK each year. We will deploy a new approach, underpinned by the smart use of data, to provide a better insight into the key drivers of these diseases and use these insights to transform the lives of our patients and citizens.”

Professor Mark Lawler, Associate Director of Health Data Research Wales-Northern Ireland and Scientific Director of DATA-CAN

Cross-Driver Programme – Health Economics fellowship call

HDR UK and Queen’s University Belfast have launched a cross-Driver funding call for a Health Economics Fellow to advance research at the intersection of health economics and data science. With funding of up to £250K over three years (April 2025–March 2028), this fellowship offers a unique opportunity for an early-career researcher to explore the societal and policy impacts of health data. Sitting in the Big Data for Complex Disease Programme, the Fellow will also collaborate across other Driver Programmes, using diverse datasets to address inequalities, improve care, and inform health policies across the UK.

For more information on this call, please follow the link here to the webpage.

- To better predict development of cancer and CVD and to stratify risk for better early detection, early diagnosis and prevention.
- To improve understanding of the inter-relationship between these complex diseases to ensure that data-driven insights fully inform strategies for the prevention, early diagnosis and management of both treatment sequelae and long-term risk.
- To examine and better understand the impact of inequalities to influence and mitigate the negative impacts on incidence and outcomes associated with age, gender, ethnicity, geography and deprivation.