The Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council and Wellcome are taking forward plans to establish an exciting new resource to help maximise the use of data and samples from longitudinal population studies. Population Research UK (PRUK) will aim to increase the level of collaboration and data use across the social and biomedical sciences, to accelerate the generation of new, interdisciplinary insights and improve health and socioeconomic outcomes for the UK population.
HDR UK have been asked to lead the initial partnership ‘design and dialogue’ phase of this programme. Beginning in November 2020, this development phase will bring together data providers, custodians and researchers to shape the requirements and collaborative delivery approach for PRUK. If further funding is forthcoming, a new leadership team will be established through an open selection process in 2021 to establish PRUK for the longer term.
Professor Andrew Morris said,
“The UK supports an unparalleled collection of longitudinal population studies which provide an abundance of rich socioeconomic, biological and health data for studying research and policy related questions throughout the life course. The UK has a wealth of experience in developing and implementing good-practice and open data sharing approaches, but significant challenges affect the reuse of this data across the social and biomedical research spectrum. We look forward to learning from and working with the community of data providers, users and custodians in an open and transparent way to maximise the value and opportunities from the UK’s world-leading longitudinal population data resources.”
