The University of Oxford has been awarded a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education, recognising the globally impactful work of the OpenSAFELY platform.
Based within the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, OpenSAFELY was created during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It pioneered a new method of accessing whole-population NHS GP data - which OpenSAFELY made accessible for the first time in history - unlocking life-saving research while protecting patient privacy more robustly than ever before.
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes (formerly the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes) are the highest national honour awarded in UK further and higher education. They are granted every two years by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, recognising work that shows excellence, innovation, and well-evidenced benefit for the wider world.
Traditional methods of data analysis often involve moving large datasets to researchers. OpenSAFELY reversed this model. Researchers get 'dummy data' to develop their analysis, then submit their analyses for automated remote execution against real patient records, without ever needing to move data, or interact directly with sensitive personal information.
OpenSAFELY has also been highly productive, with users at dozens of organisations on more than 200 projects.
Read the full story on the University of Oxford website.