ADR Wales is delighted to be part of a major new research initiative that has secured £339,000 in additional funding from Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK), building on earlier feasibility work that demonstrated the power of linked data to better understand cancer screening inequalities.
The investment will support the Cancer Data-Driven Detection (CD3) programme, a UK-wide initiative bringing together leading health researchers, data scientists, healthcare partners, data partners and members of the public to better understand and improve early cancer detection.
The funding will enable researchers to securely link cancer diagnoses, screening and treatment data along with health and administrative population data sources, helping to identify who is most at risk of developing cancer, and why some communities are less likely to participate in screening programmes.
ADR Wales played a key role in the programme’s feasibility phase, which used linked census and health data within the SAIL Databank to uncover important new insights into breast and bowel cancer screening participation across different population groups in Wales. The new funding will allow researchers to build on this foundation, developing advanced analytical and AI-enabled approaches to better understand cancer risk, screening behaviours and health inequalities.
Professor Ashley Akbari, Swansea University and ADR Wales, said: “By combining the strengths of the SAIL Databank, ADR Wales, healthcare partners and academic researchers, we have created a powerful research environment capable of securely linking complex anonymised data sources at population scale. Continued ADR UK funding will allow us to further develop these rich data assets, providing researchers with unprecedented opportunities to understand cancer risk, screening behaviours and inequalities.”
To find out more about the funding provided to the CD3 programme by ADR UK read the full news article here.