Innovative UK data hub to enable research and innovation to tackle mental illness
Following on from the success of the MQ funded Adolescent Data Platform, we are incredibly excited to be part of a new announcement.
Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) have today announced a new Hub to provide innovative data resources for mental health research and innovation. The Hub will expand on the processes of the ADP and take learnings from it to improve the discoverability and usability of diverse data sources for research to help improve the lives of people with mental health problems.
Led by Professor Ann John at Swansea University and Professor Rob Stewart at King’s College London the Hub – called DATAMIND – will improve the use of big data for mental health research by providing expert data services, tools and expertise to a wide range of users. Whilst the ADP only covered Wales, DATAMIND will operate across the four nations of the UK, bringing together expertise from the NHS, universities, charities, research institutes and industry.
Mental health affects almost everyone at some point in their lives and, to varying degrees, is the biggest cause of ill-health for people living in the UK. People living with a mental illness are less likely to take part in or to remain in usual types of research studies and may also be actively excluded. This means that much of what we know about mental health is not based on the very people who are worst affected. However, the UK has some of the best data in the world, which can be used in research to understand how to prevent mental ill-health and maintain and improve people's lives. Real-world data offers powerful opportunities to overcome these issues.
The DATAMIND Hub will maximise the value of this data by safely and securely bringing together data from diverse sources, including health records, schools and administrative data, charity data, research trials, genomics, longitudinal studies and cohort data. DATAMIND will make these data discoverable through the UK Health Data Research Innovation Gateway and will enable researchers use the data to help address complex questions about mental health, as well as improve our understanding of what works best to improve outcomes at a personalised and population level. This has the potential to improve diagnosis, treatment and, ultimately, improve psychological wellbeing.
“It is so inspiring to see the results already generated through the Adolescent Data Platform in Wales which MQ has been funding for four years. We are delighted to be continuing MQ’s support of this project which brings together data from across different services and sources to make spotting trends and identifying mental health issues easier, cheaper and more efficient. It is innovative projects like this that will help to transform service delivery and improve lives.”
Lea Milligan, CEO MQ Mental Health Research.
Involving the public, patients and people with lived experience of mental health problems is a critical part of the DATAMIND hub. Integrated at the outset and throughout the hub’s activities, this insight will inform the safe and responsible use of mental health data and accelerate opportunities for impact on patients and the public.
DATAMIND is funded by a £2M investment from the MRC. It joins an established network of Health Data Research Hubs, led by Health Data Research UK and funded through UKRI’s Industry Strategy Challenge Fund, which aim to maximise insights and innovations from health data. These hubs have made significant impacts in data improvement and have supported the research response to COVID-19 in areas including infection rates, vaccine rollout, and understanding the impact of COVID-19 on specific disease areas.
“We’re really excited about DATAMIND. By working together with the public, patients, researchers, industry and the NHS we will transform both our understanding of mental health and the lives of people experiencing mental health problems. We will create a Hub where researchers and others can find and use mental health data to benefit patients and the public and improve care.
We know how important it is that people understand how their data is used and feel comfortable, which is why we will work closely with the public, patients, and those with personal experience to ensure these open conversations happen and that the highest standards of data security and privacy are met.”
Professor Ann John, Co-Director of DATAMIND.
