The University of Nottingham will lead the coordination of a new £6.20 million programme, TREvolution, to advance the development of key technical requirements and capabilities for UK Trusted Research Environments (TREs).
Awarded under the DARE UK (Phase 2) Transformational Programme, TREvolution will be jointly led by five leading research institutions in the UK: the Universities of Dundee, Manchester, Nottingham, Swansea and West of England.
The University of Nottingham has been chosen to coordinate the major new UK-wide health data programme, bringing together top experts to drive innovation in medical research. Building on its leadership in Health Data Research UK and the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, the University will serve as the programme's coordinating hub.
The Centre of Health Informatics, based in the School of Medicine, is internationally recognised for its cutting-edge work in health technology. Researchers there focus on developing advanced software to support the next generation of medical research, helping to improve patient care and scientific discovery.
The programme of work will be delivered in collaboration with NHS Scotland, Lancashire Teaching Hospital, Durham University, Lancaster University, University College London, University of Queensland, University of Basel and University of Cape Town.
Philip Quinlan, Professor of Digital Engineering and Health Informatics, from the University of Nottingham, said: "This programme brings together leading experts from across the UK to advance how we use data in research and innovation. By developing cutting-edge digital tools, we aim to support the next generation of discoveries, not just in healthcare but across multiple disciplines. The University of Nottingham is proud to play a central role in coordinating this effort, ensuring that data science continues to drive meaningful progress for society."
TREvolution will address challenges associated with enhancing data access and analysis within TREs – secure environments where approved researchers can access sensitive data for research to benefit the public, such as national public health and population-level surveys.
TREs in the UK are internationally renowned for establishing the Five Safes framework, but they have some limitations for researchers. The manual application processes and disclosure checks make it challenging to keep up with today's scientific needs, like federated learning, analysis across sectors and research domains, and large-scale correlation studies.
TREvolution will address these challenges to evolve UK TRE capabilities across three themes:
- TRE reference architecture and implementations: Standardising UK TRE architectures to enable seamless interoperability.
- AI and semi-automated output checking: Enhancing research output review processes to ensure non-disclosure of personal information.
- Federated analysis: Enabling secure analysis of datasets stored in multiple TREs located across the UK.
This project builds on existing work done by the delivery partners, with experience across the themes, as well as the DARE UK (Phase 1) Driver Projects, which developed initial versions of some of the key components of TREvolution.
The funding call leading up to the award invited teams that delivered specific DARE UK Driver Projects to take the projects to the next stage of maturity. A single joint bid was submitted by TREvolution, a collaboration that builds on synergies between the Driver Projects teams to enhance the components, make them fully interoperable, and transition them into capabilities ready for use in UK TREs.
After an independent panel review process involving key experts and the public, £4,940,092 was awarded, being 80% of the full economic cost (£6,150,739) to support TREvolution from March 2025 to March 2027, ensuring that the outputs developed can be tested, refined, and adopted in real-world research settings.
TREvolution is the first of three initiatives under the DARE UK (Phase 2) Transformational Programme, advancing the further development and testing of core TRE components and capabilities developed in the first phase of the DARE UK programme.
Alongside TREvolution, further funding will be provided to support the early adoption of these capabilities by UK TREs and data services and to demonstrate their application through real-world research exemplars. The goal is to showcase the potential for a connected and efficient national network of secure data infrastructures.
DARE UK Interim Director, Professor Emily Jefferson, said: "TREvolution marks a step change in our efforts to transform the UK's secure data research ecosystem. This important work will ensure that key capabilities—such as federated analysis and enhanced output checking supporting the training of AI models—are not just theoretical advancements but practical, real-world solutions that enhance the UK's ability to do impactful research. We look forward to working closely with the TREvolution team to advance these innovations and drive meaningful progress in how sensitive data is accessed and used for the public good."
The TREvolution team will work closely with the DARE UK Delivery Team and early adopter TREs, fostering stronger collaboration and synergy as these critical capabilities are integrated into the UK's secure data research infrastructure ecosystem.
