DATAMIND news. Published 25th September 2024
DATAMIND continues to evolve, creating new opportunities to expand our impact on mental health research across the UK. Over the years, we have built a distributed multi-site data hub curating Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) datasets that are readily available to researchers, the NHS, policymakers, and industry. Built on innovation, openness, and strong public involvement, we are dedicated to improving the lives of people with mental health conditions. We are excited to continue this important work adding in new initiatives and partnerships that will help us make an even bigger impact in the future.
We are core to the Mental Health Platform, a Medical Research Council (MRC) initiative, on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), consisting of five challenge-led research Hubs focused on collaboration, data sharing, and engagement with the NHS, Academia, Industry and the Public to accelerate research into severe mental illnesses more effective treatments. DATAMIND will provide the data infrastructure needed to support these Hubs.
We have partnered up with the Mental Health Mission, which aims to address the urgent need for new treatment options for people with mental health conditions and position the UK as a leader in mental health research innovation. DATAMIND will support the mission by providing robust data and digital infrastructure. This includes utilising routinely collected data, introducing new types of data for measurement and outcomes, and enhancing trial platforms with informatics.
The UK has the potential to be world-leading in its use of data to improve health. We want to make sure that this leadership is as true for mental health as any other field.” says Professor Rob Stewart, co-director of DATAMIND.
We are also continuing to build on our existing partnership with HDRUK, further expanding our collaborative efforts in mental health research. Through this collaboration, we hope to ensure that mental health figures prominently in wider health and healthcare data science, as well as allowing DATAMIND and HDRUK to benefit from each other’s technical and skills infrastructure.
We’re data driven research enablers- committed to making a real impact in people’s lives. With so many opportunities ahead, we are in an ideal position to help drive these initiatives forward and make a lasting difference.
One thing that remains central to everything we do is keeping the voices of those with lived experience at the heart of our work. Their insights continue to guide how we tackle mental health challenges and build trust in how data is used.” says Professor Ann John, co-director of DATAMIND.
As members of the Super Research Advisory Group explain:
“We know from our own personal lived experience how vital it is to keep the voices of patients and the public at the heart of mental health research. We are able to help guide how data is used and ensure health and care improvements truly reflect the needs and priorities of those affected by mental health conditions. Together with researchers, we are helping to grow public trust and working hard to make sure this partnership can improve lives.”
We will continue to support the next generation of mental health data experts. We will expand our network of early-career researchers and provide them with ongoing training and the tools they need to advance in their field. And of course, we will continue to hold our Mental Health Data Science meetings bringing together the public, Industry partners and mental health data scientists from across disciplines to share learning.
What’s to come…
We have a lot of exciting developments on the horizon. To name just a few, we will be working on bringing in data from mobile phones and wearables to get real-time insights, using advanced language models to make sense of written health records, and linking genetic and biomarker data with health records to get a deeper understanding of mental health.
We will also making big strides in how we securely analyse data from different sources while protecting privacy. Our new Trusted Research Environment (TRE) is going to give researchers a safe, secure space to store and study sensitive mental health data.
We are also going to be expanding digital tools like the Core Mental Health Dataset (CMHDS) and the Equity Audit Tool (EAT), making clinical trials faster, more inclusive, and more effective for everyone.
As we continue to evolve, our focus is clear: harnessing data-driven insights to advance mental health research through improved infrastructure, datasets, and tools across the UK. Together with our partners, we are paving the way for better mental health care and outcomes.
For more information on DATAMIND and our initiatives, visit our website at www.datamind.org.