Data Access Process for Education (DAP-E): Our First Approval

You might have heard about our Data Access Process for Research (DAP-R), but have you heard of our latest endeavour: Data Access Process for Education (DAP-E)?

We’ve just reached a new milestone: the first successful governance approval of the new Data Access for Education (DAP-E) programme.

DAP-E is designed to give educators secure, governed access to completely anonymised real-world hospital data for use in UCL courses. By providing this (carefully controlled) access to data that’s completely anonymous and can never be traced back to individuals, we aim to bridge the gap between academic learning and the realities of healthcare data, giving students the opportunity to work with authentic anonymous datasets in a safe, privacy-protected environment.

The approval marks the start of a new chapter in our mission to enable research, learning, and innovation while upholding the highest standards of data protection and governance. Every request under DAP-E undergoes rigorous review by our Data Trust Committee (DTC), which consists of members of the public and hospital staff, to ensure that it meets ethical requirements.

This first green light paves the way for collaborations that will help future healthcare professionals and researchers gain the skills they need to analyse, interpret, and use health data effectively. In turn, this will strengthen the pipeline of talent that can drive improvements in patient care, policy, and innovation.

We look forward to seeing the first DAP-E projects in action and to building on this success to expand access across more institutions and courses in the months ahead!

For more about our DAP-E programme, see our page here.