8. January 2021 | Magazine:

Sharing Data from Health Research The Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics (PLRI) is a partner in the large-scale EU research project FAIR4Health

The FAIR4Health project, funded by the European Commission, is committed to the effective application of FAIR principles. This is associated with a sustainable impact in health research in order to improve health care in the European Union in the long term.

FAIR4Health supports the use of health data from publicly funded initiatives within the European scientific community. Photo credit: Karin Kaiser/MHH

FAIR4Health promotes the targeted application of FAIR principles to data originating from publicly funded health research initiatives. These data can then be shared and reused within the EU scientific community.

FAIR principles allow researchers to

  • Find study-related data (Findable),
  • access it (Accessible),
  • exchange data (Interoperable) and
  • reuse it (Reusable).

This also means responsible use within a controlled and secure ecosystem in accordance with legal and ethical frameworks.

FAIR4Health is the first project of its kind in clinical research in Europe. Scientific discoveries can thus be accelerated and their validity improved. The project will also have an impact on the quality of scientific evidence and the comparability of results, as well as on the availability of innovative digital health services.

Data science know-how contributed by the PLRI

The PLRI supports the project with technical expertise and data science know-how regarding the development and evaluation of the architecture, components, protocols and workflow. Furthermore, the PLRI critically examines the semantics of the data models and offers scientific points of contact.

In the hospital: Entering data directly on site

FAIR4Health considers the integration of data sources on-site at the healthcare provider. Thus, FAIR4Health can be installed on site at the hospital and data can be entered. This data is kept anonymous. Value is created through cross-regional interaction via the FAIR4Health platform. The approach thus offers researchers the opportunity to draw on data from all over Europe for their studies and to answer scientific questions with the help of the FAIR4Health platform.

FAIR4Health is a project funded by the H2020 “Science with and for Society” (SwafS-04-2018: Science with and for Society) call. In addition to the Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics (PLRI), another 16 research partners from 11 different countries are participating in the 36-month project.