New study to accelerate use of data for vital COVID-19 vaccine research
A new study to accelerate use of data for vital COVID-19 vaccine research, led by BREATHE Director, Professor Aziz Sheikh, is one of 12 urgent research projects to receive new funding following a rapid call for COVID-19 data research initiatives by Health Data Research UK, Office for National Statistics and UK Research and Innovation.
The successful projects will build on existing UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) work to use national data to answer key COVID-19 research questions.
With input from colleagues across the BREATHE network, the study will look to enable a common, near real-time approach to studying vaccine uptake, safety and effectiveness across the UK.
The new study will build on work undertaken by BREATHE as part of the Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19 (EAVE II) project.
BREATHE Lay Leads, Alex Brownrigg and Antony Chuter, will also bring their expertise to the project as co-leads of the patient and public involvement workstream.
Each of the 12 selected projects address key areas of COVID-19 research, including a study of long-COVID and a national study to understand differences in susceptibility and risk factors between ethnic groups. Another will use linked datasets to understand transmission of COVID-19 in schools.
The projects will form part of the larger Data and Connectivity National Core Study.
This study is led by Health Data Research UK in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and enables access to health and administrative data from across the UK and provides the infrastructure for vital data research. The 12 projects join the study in January and will be expected to complete by the end of June 2021.
All projects are expected to leave a legacy for future research studies by enhancing the value of data by, for example, creating additional data linkages, improving the quality of data and following best practice in open science, sharing code and tools. Each will be required to engage and involve patients and the public in their work and use the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway to share resources with other researchers.
Details of all the HDR UK projects