Understanding Trusted Research Environments
Advances in data science including a commitment to reproducible science through open standards, data and source code have resulted in different ways of working within research. Trusted Research Environments are in many cases now the default pathway to accessing data, representing a step change in how data is accessed for research and introducing new challenges. The tutors on this course have been at the forefront of these developing approaches, both through applied research and the development of infrastructure. The University of Bristol (with the University of Edinburgh) run the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC), a trusted research environment bringing together information from the longitudinal study volunteers with their routine records.
| Dates | 22 - 26 April 2024 |
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| Fee | £0 (pilot course) |
| Format | Online |
| Audience | Internal University of Bristol only, pilot course (prerequisites apply) |
This internal course is open to UoB staff and students only. If you are unsure whether you are eligible to attend please contact us.
Course profile
This course will introduce some exemplar TREs (e.g. The UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC), NHS England TRE and OpenSAFELY) to highlight the different ways TREs function, and some of the strengths and challenges these environments can introduce to research such as the availability of different tools. Different approaches to working within TREs will also be covered including insight into the strengths and challenges of different tools that can be used to manipulate data, conduct analyses, and create safe research outputs.
We aim to equip researchers with the confidence to work within TREs through awareness of the benefits, challenges and differences that exist across TREs. This course will not provide detail of analytic techniques but will instead provide awareness and understanding of the steps that need to be taken before analysis can be undertaken and once analysis is complete. These include applying to the TRE for access to data, deriving codeslists, creating cohorts, quality assurance, through to the close of the research project including requesting safe outputs for publication, and producing appropriate documentation for uploading to packages such as GITHub.
Whilst we will also more broadly introduce other important aspects of working within TREs including governance and data standards; common approaches to dealing with known challenges; the importance of patient and public involvement and engagement including fair processing and transparency; the benefits of developing good practice in documentation not least to support reproducible research. Emphasis is placed on working to open research practices supporting accessible, transparent, reproducible and visible research
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/staff/researchers/open-research/
Please click on the sections below for more information:
Structure
Taught over full days consecutively with some asynchronous content, but mainly live content including small group work. Practical sessions will step through some exemplar projects, and include tasks such as creating a study population or code list. Analytic script (R) will be provided when required for practical sessions.
Intended Learning Objectives
By the end of the course participants should be able to:
- successfully apply to an appropriate TRE to carry out research, including developing codelists and study populations;
- understand the steps that need to be taken before analysis can be undertaken and once analysis is complete including quality assurance, requesting safe research outputs; and
- complete high quality research within TREs (working to open research practices) with an awareness of the benefits, challenges and differences that exist across environments, producing appropriate study documentation for uploading to packages such as GITHub.
Target audience
This course is intended for researchers who want to learn more about conducting research within a TRE.
Outline
This course will cover:
- an introduction to some exemplar TREs (e.g. The UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC), NHS England TRE and OpenSAFELY) highlighting the different ways they function, and some of the strengths and challenges, and different approaches to working within TREs including insight into the strengths and challenges of different tools that can be used to manipulate data, conduct analyses, and create safe research outputs;
- understanding of the steps that need to be taken before analysis can be undertaken and once analysis is complete. These include applying to the TRE for access to data, deriving codeslists, creating cohorts, quality assurance, through to the close of the research project including requesting safe outputs for publication, and producing appropriate documentation for uploading to packages such as GITHub; and
- introduction to other important aspects of working within TREs including governance and data standards; common approaches to dealing with known challenges; the importance of patient and public involvement and engagement including fair processing and transparency; the benefits of developing good practice in documentation not least to support reproducible research.
Teaching staff
Organisers:
Dr Emma Turner - Senior data manager UK LLC/ Research fellow
Andy Boyd - Director UK LLC
Tutors:
Dr Rachel Denholm - Epidemiologist
Dr Venexia Walker - Epidemiologist
Dr Alison Teyhan - Record linkage
Prerequisites
To make sure the course is suitable for you and you will benefit from attending, please ensure you meet the following prerequisites before booking:
| Knowledge | This course requires some knowledge of research and analysis. An 'intro to R' and 'intro to python' might be helpful but are not required as analytic script will be provided throughout the course where it is required. JGI UoB have some courses online e.g. https://chryswoods.com/beginning_r/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVp79EU78Ttyu3cegAdX_sSnlryI7PrY8. |
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Bookings
Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience and prerequisites. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites to ensure you can get the most from the course.
Please remember that we do not charge fees for pilot courses, nor do they count against your allocation of free course places. However, in return we ask that you take the time to provide full and thorough feedback so we can effectively evaluate the success of the course.
Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms & conditions, which can be read in full here.
For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.
Course materials
Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.
To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.
All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 3 months after the course.
Please note that this is a pilot course and therefore no Materials & Recordings (UoB only) option is available.
