Making research visible: UW/H receives funding to set up a digital data hub
Witten/Herdecke University is becoming part of a nationwide infrastructure for medical research data: The aim is to make research data more transparent, easier to find and securely accessible in the future.
How can medical research data be processed in such a way that it can not only be used today, but also understood, reviewed and reused tomorrow? The research project "Transparency of research studies", a project funded as part of the NFDI4Health consortium, in which Prof Dr Sven Schmiedl and Dr Rene Geißen at Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) are now involved, provides an answer to this question.
The core of the project is the development of a Local Data Hub (LDH) - a web-based platform that collects and makes available medical research data such as study protocols, analyses, publications or data sets in a structured manner. The aim is to ensure the sustainable and transparent handling of health data in line with the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. The Local Data Hub for the UW/H is to be created as a prototype for the systematic description and archiving of clinical research studies. Metadata will be made visible via the central component of the Health Study Hub of NFDI4Health.
"With the Local Data Hub, we are creating a digital basis for greater transparency, traceability and quality in research - beyond individual projects," says Dr Geißen. The platform will allow researchers to store their data securely, share it in a targeted manner and link it to other studies or publications. They retain control over access rights and content at all times.
The funding is part of a Germany-wide initiative for the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), specifically in the field of health (NFDI4Health). The UW/H is thus part of a growing network of universities, clinics and research institutions that are working together on the sustainable use of medical data.
The project at the UW/H is being supervised by the Research Data Management Service and Contact Point headed by Annette Strauch-Davey, who is also supporting the workshops as part of the funding programme. "In this way, we are making an important contribution here at the UW/H to the handling of medical research data and the establishment of decentralised data registers at the research locations," says Strauch-Davey.
A workshop with the other funded institutions will take place in May 2025. An example of the first Local Data Hub is the Health Atlas - Local Data Hub/Leipzig: https://www.health-atlas.de/
The first concrete applications for the Local Data Hub will be developed at the UW/H in summer and autumn.