Integrating the voices of underserved communities into the development of Trusted Research Environments

Personal data is information which relates to living identifiable individuals and must be treated and managed securely. It may be used for research purposes as long as security, anonymity and people’s rights are not compromised. Trusted Research Environments (TREs) allow sensitive data from different sources to be: • combined; • de-personalised; • available for approved researchers to analyse within a secure virtual environment. The research has to lead to advances which will benefit the lives of the public. Enabling researchers to access a broader range of data more easily while ensuring data security brings great public benefits and trust reassurance. New research can be carried out more quickly, informing policy and scientific advances to improve lives. Not all sectors of society have had their voices heard equally in the development of TREs. TREvolution is engaging with people from underserved communities to ensure that their perspectives are heard and their insights shape and inform TREvolution’s work.