Standard Architecture for Trusted Research Environments

πŸ‘€ What is SATRE?

SATRE is our attempt to provide a standard reference architecture for trusted research environments (TREs). We have developed a comprehensive specification which describes the features that a TRE should have. We have also performed evaluations of existing open TREs against the SATRE specification.

❓ Why are we doing this?

The need for trusted research environments (TREs) is clear. Personal or sensitive data which have been collected for operational, commercial or governmental reasons need to be managed securely and safely for research use in an environment that encourages best practice.

TREs are designed to enable access to sensitive data only for authorised projects and researchers, whilst minimising risk of data release or exposure. Influential reports from DARE UK and Health Data Research UK, together with the UK Government Goldacre review and β€˜Data Saves Lives’ policy paper, have all highlighted the need for change in how sensitive data are handled.

The SATRE team contains representatives from several existing UK TREs, which host many different types of sensitive data. We will use the reference architecture specified here to bring these into closer alignment and make it easy for others to do the same. This supports DARE UK’s aim of developing a coordinated national data research infrastructure.

πŸ‘ Contributing

We welcome contributions from anyone who is interested in the project. There are lots of ways to contribute, not just writing code! Find out more about how to contribute to the SATRE Specification.

πŸ™‡ Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the following support for this project:

  • UKRI via the DARE UK Phase 1 driver projects programme (SATRE)