Through the Data Science Initiative, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has supported the establishment of a new infrastructure, the National Health Data Science Sandbox for Training and Research.
Professor Anders Krogh, University of Copenhagen, who heads the project, presents the concept in a new video. Watch it here (external link).
There is huge potential in using large amounts of data to better understand diseases and develop new treatments. However, health data is often person-sensitive, necessitating special permits before researchers can get access to them.
Researchers throughout Denmark will collaborate on building the infrastructure which will give students and researchers access to synthetic health data in a specially designed environment and will facilitate the improved education and training of a new generation of clinical data scientists in Denmark.
Users of the Sandbox will have access to anonymised synthetic data and tools, computer programmes, and computing power from supercomputers, similar to working on a project with the actual health data. The users will find themselves in the protected test area of the Sandbox that can ease the transition to working with the actual health data.
The infrastructure is a collaboration between researchers from University of Copenhagen, Technical University of Denmark, Aarhus University, Aalborg University, and University of Southern Denmark. Read more about the project and the driving forces behind it here.