Safe Data Access: Working in Trusted Research Environments

This course explores governance and standards for accessing sensitive health and social care data within Trusted Research Environments (TREs) using the Five Safes Framework. It highlights the importance of personal responsibility as a ‘safe researcher’ throughout. Designed to complement existing training, such as the ONS Safe Researcher course and the Medical Research Council's Research, GDPR, and Confidentiality training, this course enhances your understanding of public perspectives and governance requirements. It aims to improve your practice when working with sensitive data. Note: ‘Researcher’ refers broadly to all data innovators and users. 

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Recognise the purpose of TREs and how they provide remote access to health data for approved researchers to benefit the public.
• Describe the Five Safes Framework and how it relates to users in academia and clinical research projects.
• Recognise the diversity of health and social care data and how this relates to accessibility for analysis.
• Identify what makes a good data research application and how this relates to public benefit.
• Explain how data are kept safe and the central role of researchers' personal responsibility. 

This course enables non-traditional researchers from various fields to use Trusted Research Environments (TREs) for accessing health and social care data. Non-traditional users include those outside academia, such as software developers, AI experts, and innovators from third sector and private organisations. These diverse contributors play a vital role in advancing health systems and outcomes across the UK. 

There are no specific entry requirements for this course.