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The UK Health Data Analytics Network (UK-HDAN)

The UK Health Data Analytics Network (UK-HDAN) is a broad community of over 400 health data scientists across the UK that will work together to map the UK health data analytics landscape and to frame the national strategy for health data analytics research.

The network is being established with support from EPSRC. Our core community will be health informatics researchers and basic data scientists embedded in a healthcare setting so we are keen to engage with researchers who are involved in health data analytics and/or health informatics and also interested data scientists who may had little exposure so far to applying their research in the health and social care domain.

Working in collaboration with the Farr Institute and the Alan Turing Institute, UK-HDAN will focus on data science to address key challenges in health and social care, bridging the gap between the development of foundational theory, methodologies and algorithms and the use of electronic health records and other population-based data for health research. UK-HDAN is coordinated by Manchester Informatics. 

Following further input from the UK-HDAN community, a research roadmap is currently in the process of development. The research roadmap is a working document which has been created using output gathered from the Inaugural and Research Roadmap Workshops, the Industry Engagement Workshops and the network Survey. The Roadmap will provide funders, particularly EPSRC, with a clear statement of the research challenges and opportunities within health data analytics, and will provide an important framework from which to continue the dialogue with key stakeholders. 

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The UK-HDAN research roadmap

The UK-HDAN research roadmap is a working document which has been created using output gathered from the Inaugural and Research Roadmap Workshops, the Industry Engagement Workshops and the network Survey. The Roadmap will provide funders, particularly EPSRC, with a clear statement of the research challenges and opportunities within health data analytics, and will provide an important framework from which to continue the dialogue with key stakeholders. 

Upcoming Events

Details of upcoming UK-HDAN events will be posted here shortly. 

The UK-HDAN Members

UK-HDAN has over 535 members from 110 Higher Education Institutes, NHS, Industry & Funding Organisations, including:

AIDA Technology Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Mede Analytics Ramsey Systems University of Cambridge
The Alan Turing Institute Ethos Parnership Medical Research Council (MRC) Saddlepoint Science University of Cardiff
Alliance of Technology and Science Specialists European Space Agency Middlesex University London Science and Technology Facilities Council University of Dundee
Analytics Engines Francis Crick Institute MRC Biostatistics Unit Scottish Government University of Edinburgh
Apollo Medical Systems Ltd Future Cities Catapult Mumo Active Stockport Council University of Essex
Appello Greater Manchester Academic Health Science Network My Cognition Swansea University University of Glasgow
Aridhia Hartree Centre NHiS Ltd System C Healthcare University of Kent
AstraZeneca (Macclesfield) Healthcare Evaluation Data NHS Telensa University of Kingston
Bering Research Ltd Heriot Watt University NHS Lanarkshire The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) University of Lancaster
Blackburn Council HMA Digital Marketing NHS Lothian The Open University University of Leeds
Brighton & Sussex Medical School i5health NHS Scotland The University of Birmingham University of Leicester
Brunel University Imperial College London (University of London) NIHR Greater Manchester Comprehensive Local Research Network (GM CLRN) The University of Edinburgh University of Liverpool
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust IMS Health North West eHealth The University of Manchester  University of Loughborough
Cardiff University Intelesant Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust The University of Nottingham University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
Cascade3D Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) OCF Ltd The University of Strathclyde University of Nottingham
Checkware King's College London (University of London) OpenClinical The University of Warwick University of Oxford
Converging Data Kingston University Oxford Biodesign The University of York University of Southampton
Coventry University Kokomo Oxford Brookes Tilburg University University of Ulster
CS Integration Lancashire Council Pespectum Diagnostics TPP UK University of warwick
Data Burrowing Solutions Leeds Beckett University PHG Foundation UCL University of Worcester
Deep Cognito Lexmark Philips University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust University of York
Digital Health and Care Alliance London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Quadram Institute University of Aberdeen Voluntis
Digital Health Institute Manchester Metropolitan University Quaenam Ltd University of Bath Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
DOCC NHS Manchester Science Parks (msp) Queen's University Belfast University of Bradford Withings
Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) MDSAS Quortex University of Bristol Yaidoo Ltd

Steering Group

Professor Chris Taylor (University of Manchester)

Chris leads the UK Health Data Analytics Network, is Director of Digtial Futures and Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Manchester. 

He has has been a leading figure in health informatics in the UK for over 15 years. He chaired the UK Foresight Programme working party on health informatics and was awarded an OBE in 2000 in recognition of his services to Health and Foresight. Chris also leads the NewMind Plus Network and the GM Connected Health Ecosystem which brings together health & community care providers, Universities, local government social care providers and commissioners, the local clinical research network, major international companies & SMEs in a permanent partnership to accelerate the adoption of Connected Health solutions in Greater Manchester.

Chris has also been at the forefront computer vision research for over 35 years with some of the most highly cited publications in the field and a strong record in technology transfer. He founded one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary research centres in computer vision and medical image analysis. Chris is a Distinguished Fellow of the British Machine Vision Association, International Association for Pattern Recognition and Medical Image Computing and Computer-Aided Intervention Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2006

Professor Ann Blandford (UCL)

Ann Blandford is Professor of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) at UCL, Director of UCL Institute of Digital Health and Chair of the UK Computing Research Committee (UKCRC). Following a degree in mathematics, she started her career in industry, as a software engineer, but soon moved into academia, where she developed a focus on the use and usability of computer systems. She leads research projects studying health technology design, patient safety and user experience, with a focus on situated interactions. This has included programmes of research on making medical devices safer (CHI+MED) and on understanding practices in intravenous medication administration (ECLIPSE), focusing particularly on the design of infusion devices, the broader systems of practice within which they are used, and how these impact on patient safety.

She also leads research on how health technologies can be designed to support citizen engagement, for health management (e.g. sexual health) and wellness (e.g. physical activity and diet). She has over 200 international, peer-reviewed publications, and also Synthesis Lectures on “Interacting with Information” and on Qualitative research in HCI

Professor David Hogg (University of Leeds)

David is Professor of Computer Vision and Machine Learning at the University of Leeds. Following the completion of his PhD at the University of Sussex, he remained at Sussex for several years, looking at a variety of AI and computer vision problems and co-authoring the AI textbook “Computers and Thought”. Professor Hogg has previously worked head of the division of artificial intelligence. The group at Leeds went from strength to strength under his leadership, with hundreds of influential publications in the succeeding years. In 2000, he took on the role of Pro-vice-chancellor at Leeds, and spent four years in university administration which marked by further expansion of the Leeds group, and he co-chaired CVPR 2010. He continues to devote considerable time to his role as one of Leeds's three Pro-Vice-Chancellors: his office being responsible for Research and Innovation, promoting the University's research agenda.

Professor Dave Robertson (University of Edinburgh)

Dave is a Fellow of the British Computing Society and chairs the executive of the UK Computing Research Committee (the expert panel of BCS and IET). He is a member of the EPSRC Strategic Advisory Team for ICT and of the MRC Population Health Sciences advisory group; is on the Industry Advisory Board for Innovate UK’s ICT programme and is a member of the management boards for the Scottish Innovation Centres in Digital Healthcare and Data Science.

Dr Lydia Drumright (University of Cambridge)

Lydia is University Lecturer of Clinical Informatics in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Within Cambridge Clinical Informatics, she directs the science and research activities, and facilitates expansion of the Centre through collaborations and securing external funding. Dr Drumright received her Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry and Cellular Biology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she engaged in molecular biology and human and pathogen genomics within the Department of Psychiatry and at the Salk Institute. Following her undergraduate training and significant involvement in laboratory research focus on pathways of disease in humans, Dr Drumright went on to received a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Health Education and Community Health. During her Masters, Dr Drumright gained hands-on experience in community outreach, mobilisation and behavioural interventions. She interned with Los Angeles County Department of Health and Human Services, where she learned how research could be transformed into public health practice through policy. In 2006, Dr Drumright received her PhD in Public Health in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology jointly from the Department of Medicine at UCSD and the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University, where her research focused on sexually transmitted infections, HIV and hepatitis C infections in clinical and community settings.

The diversity of Dr Drumright’s training is also reflected in her career path where she has had the opportunity to conduct research in a multitude of settings, on a variety of health problems, across multiple countries. She has conducted both within the US and UK, as well as other countries, and within the UK worked within and with PHE and Imperial College London and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Professor Niels Peek (University of Manchester/ HeRC)

Niels is Professor of Health Informatics at the MRC Health eResearch Centre for North England (www.herc.ac.uk), University of Manchester and Director of GM Connected Health City.  His background is in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. After completing his PhD he worked at the Department of Medical Informatics of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He has co-authored over 100 scientific publications in health informatics, artificial intelligence, and epidemiology.

His research focuses on improving quality and safety of healthcare using methods and tools from the fields of informatics, statistics and artificial intelligence. From 2003 to 2014, he has led a large initiative on quality improvement in cardiac rehabilitation in the Netherlands (called CARDSS), which involved a collaboration between more than 30 hospitals, the Dutch patients’ organization for cardiovascular disorders, a large number of professional societies, several academic research groups and three healthcare IT companies. He has also co-organized international workshops on intelligent data analysis in biomedicine in 2005, 2006, and 2011, and he is the president of the Society for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME) which organizes an international conference on that topic every two years.

Professor Mihaela van der Schaar (University of Oxford/ Alan Turing Institute)

Mihaela van der Schaar is Man Professor of Quantitative Finance in the Oxford – Man Institute of Quantitative Finance (OMI) and the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford, Fellow of Christ Church College and Faculty Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute [Link], London . Mihaela's research interests and expertise are in machine learning, data science and decisions for a better planet. In particular, she is interested in developing machine learning and decision theory for finance, medicine and personalized education. She also has research interests and expertise in game theory and applications, and in social, economic and biological networks. She leads the Data Science and Decisions Research Group.

Career Opportunities

If you would like to publish an opportunity on our website, please contact digitalfutures@manchester.ac.uk

Well Sorted

At the Inaugural & Research Roadmap Workshops, the UK-HDAN has used the Well Sorted facilitation tool created by academics at Heriot Watt University.

This tool has allowed us to plan workshops in advance with the help of input from delegates. In advance of the Research Roadmap Workshop, we asked out attendees to input one idea to the following prompt; What key broader issue do you think needs to be considered if the impact of health data analytics research on health and social care delivery is to be maximised?

After attendees had input their ideas they were then asked to sort everyone elses into as many groups as they liked. The only thing we asked was that each group contained items which were related/connected/similar in some way.

The outcome of this sort determined seven breakout groups who discussed similar ideas that had been grouped together. A tree map visualisation of these groups can be seen here. Groups discussed their topic areas for one hour and then gave 60 second elevator pitched of the three most important areas that came out of their discussions.

If you would be interested in using the Well Sorted facilitation tool please visit their website here.