Integrating the voices of seldom-heard communities into development of Trusted Research Environments

Summary Personal data is information which relates to living identifiableindividuals and must be treated and managed securely. It may be usedfor research purposes as long as the security, anonymity and people’srights are not compromised.Trusted Research Environments (TREs) allow sensitive personal datafrom different sources to be:• combined;• de-personalised;• made available for approved researchers to analyse within a securevirtual environment.The research has to lead to advances which will benefit the lives of thepublic. Enabling researchers to access a broader range of data moreeasily while ensuring data security brings great public benefits and trustreassurance. New research can be carried out more quickly, informingpolicy and scientific advances to improve lives.Not all sectors of society have had their voices heard equally in thedevelopment of TREs.TREvolution is engaging with people from underserved communities toensure that their perspectives are heard and their insights shape andinform TREvolution’s work.