The British Heart Foundation has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing cardiovascular research by renewing £10m in funding for the Data Science Centre, aiming to accelerate heart disease insights and treatments
The British Heart Foundation has renewed a £10 million investment in the BHF Data Science Centre, empowering researchers to harness large-scale health data to unlock new insights into cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. This extended funding will speed up data-driven discoveries that could improve heart health outcomes across the UK.
Driving progress through data-driven cardiovascular research
The BHF Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) collaborates nationally to support research projects using large-scale health data, aiming to inform public health policy and improve treatment of cardiovascular conditions.
In the past five years:
- The Centre has built a community of over 400 scientists working on critical COVID-19-related research. The CVD-COVID-UK/COVID-IMPACT consortium has investigated the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines in adults and children.
- Connections with data custodians have enabled secure access to health data on a population scale in England, Scotland and Wales. This approach has reduced the time accredited scientists take to access data for approved projects, thereby accelerating analysis and the generation of findings.
- The Centre’s health data science team has developed a suite of resources that offer bespoke support to researchers with their analysis.
- A group of public contributors guides the Centre’s work to ensure it meets the needs of people with cardiovascular conditions.
The new funding will enable the Centre to continue its mission to improve heart and cardiovascular health through large-scale data and advanced analytics. The funding will be used on two broad themes: efficiency, enabling faster, more trustworthy data for cardiovascular researchers, and quality, enabling better research with better data.
Expert commentary
Director of Health Data Research UK Professor Andrew Morris said, “This funding recognises the contribution and impact of the BHF Data Science Centre team at Health Data Research UK, and is an important step in strengthening the UK’s national health data research infrastructure. Enhancing and developing new data services, underpinned by public trust, transparency, and governance, will support the Centre in continuing to enable the best cardiovascular data research at pace and at scale. The ambition is to make a tangible difference to the lives of 7.6 million people living with cardiovascular disease in the UK.
“Initiatives like the BHF Data Science Centre are only possible through collaboration across academia, the NHS, charities, industry, and critically, the public.”
Professor James Leiper, Director of Research at the British Heart Foundation, said, “We are delighted to continue supporting the BHF Data Science Centre’s vital mission to further explore the extraordinary potential of cutting-edge data science to tackle cardiovascular disease, which remains a leading cause of death in the UK.
“The Centre’s impact in enabling data-led research to flourish has delivered many impactful outcomes to date. At BHF, we look forward to seeing the Centre achieve its aims of facilitating more efficient access to high-quality research-ready data to allow researchers to deliver benefits for patients.”
Interim Director of the BHF Data Science Centre Professor Steffen Petersen said, “We welcome this renewed funding as a significant milestone for the BHF Data Science Centre and the wider cardiovascular research community. It’s a real testament to everyone who works within and with the Centre, and highlights the power of bringing together the best data, analytics, and multidisciplinary expertise across the UK, all the while grounded in the lived experience of patients and the public.
“We’re grateful for the support and trust of our funders and partners, particularly the BHF, as we move into this new chapter. We can be confident that this investment will help us to deliver faster, fairer, and more impactful benefits for researchers, patients, and the NHS.”
Suzannah Power, a public contributor working with the BHF Data Science Centre, said, “This is such a positive step. It’s recognition of the success of the last five years of BHF Data Science Centre projects using large-scale data, and it’s an endorsement of the power of collaboration – between the research teams, the clinicians, public health and, of course, those with lived experience of heart and circulatory conditions. The Health Data Science Team have worked hand in hand with its team of public contributors every step of the way to ensure research is relevant and equitable. It’s good to be part of their success, for now and for future generations.”
