Two Swansea-led projects are among eight new research exemplars sharing £3.5 million to demonstrate how sensitive data can be used safely and at scale across the UK.
Funded through the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Fund as part of DARE UK Phase 2, the programme will explore how emerging capabilities within Trusted Research Environments (TREs) can support real-world research while maintaining privacy and public trust. The projects will run for up to 12 months (from April 2026 to 2027).
The initiative brings together teams from across the UK to tackle a common challenge: how to analyse sensitive data at scale across multiple secure environments. By testing tools developed through TREvolution, the projects will assess how approaches such as federated data access, distributed analytics and AI-enabled disclosure control perform in practice.
Two projects based in Population Data Science at Swansea University have secured funding.
CONNECT-AF
CONNECT-AF, led by Dr Fatemeh Torabi, brings together an outstanding team of experts with a shared vision and strong leadership to establish a federated research network between three major UK TREs: the SAIL Databank, the Easter England Secure Data Environment (SDE) and the Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) TRE to study observational and self-reported outcomes associated with Atrial Fibrillation (AF). Using a federated approach, the project will establish and analyse like-for-like AF data assets across regions, demonstrating how federated research can support national learning while maintaining strong privacy protections.
Dr Fatemeh Torabi said: “CONNECT-AF will build a federated research network that enables us to generate important insights at a national level. By linking TREs and analysing data in place, we will evaluate and establish approaches for generating robust evidence on Atrial Fibrillation outcomes while maintaining the highest standards of privacy.”
FRAME
Also based in Swansea, FRAME, led by Professor Sinead Brophy, will explore how federated health data can be used to emulate clinical trials investigating antihypertensive treatments during pregnancy. By analysing data across multiple TREs, the project aims to determine whether treatment effects vary by ethnicity and assess potential long-term developmental outcomes for children exposed to these medications before birth.
Professor Sinead Brophy said: “FRAME will test whether we can use real-world data across multiple TREs to answer questions that are often difficult to address in traditional clinical trials. This includes understanding how treatments during pregnancy may affect both mothers and children over time.”
Across the wider portfolio, projects will explore areas ranging from brain frailty and dermatology AI to geospatial health inequalities and secure connections to national supercomputing infrastructure. Together, they will generate practical insight into how federated data research can be scaled across the UK.
Public involvement and engagement are embedded throughout, with patients and communities helping to shape how data is used and how findings are shared.
The findings from all eight projects will inform the future development of secure, federated data research infrastructure – helping to expand what is possible with sensitive data while maintaining strong governance and public confidence.