- University of Manchester
- Swansea University
DATAMIND TRE and Observatory
Secure access to mental health research data, alongside specialist analytics for study feasibility, protocol design and evidence generation.
Secure data infrastructure and specialist analytics, working together to support responsible mental health research.
The DATAMIND (opens in a new tab) Trusted Research Environment (TRE) supports approved researchers working with sensitive mental health data in a secure, governed setting. The DATAMIND Observatory provides specialist real-world analytics to inform research and trial decisions, with disclosure-controlled outputs for industry partners. Together, these services connect secure data infrastructure with the expertise to turn data into useful evidence.
Delivered with
Primary focus
- DATAMIND TRE: supporting the secure storage, access, analysis and linkage of research data, subject to the relevant approvals and data-provider requirements.
- DATAMIND Observatory: using existing mental health data to generate real-world evidence for study feasibility, protocol design and decisions across the trial lifecycle.
- Working with the Alliance Management Team, DIGIT Capabilities Database and Innovative Clinical Trials Hub to connect industry partners with appropriate data, analytics and methodological expertise.
Key questions & challenges
- Which datasets could support a research question, and what approvals and access arrangements would be needed?
- How can real-world analytics reduce uncertainty in trial planning and help refine a protocol before a study begins?
- How can industry partners obtain useful evidence while protecting the privacy of people whose data contribute to research?
- How can data infrastructure, discovery tools and analytics services work together to support UK mental health research?
How this differs from other infrastructure
- The TRE provides a secure, governed environment for approved researchers to work with sensitive data. Discovering a dataset or making an enquiry does not itself grant access.
- The Observatory provides analytics as a service. It uses research-ready datasets through existing trusted infrastructure and supplies disclosure-controlled outputs; it does not provide industry partners with individual-level data.
- The Observatory does not collect, manage or store source patient-level datasets. It may generate derived measures for analysis, while the underlying data remain within the relevant trusted infrastructure.
- The DIGIT Capabilities Database helps users discover cohorts and capabilities. Trial recruitment and operations require the relevant cohort, clinical and delivery partners; they are not provided by the discovery tool or the Observatory alone.
Who leads this workstream
DATAMIND Co-Director
Swansea University
Alliance Management Team Co-Investigator · DIGIT Co-Lead
University of Manchester
DATAMIND Co-Director
King’s College London
Next workstream
Multi-omics
