Led by the University of Sheffield, PANORAMA is a collaboration between NHS and university Secure Data Environments covering more than 15 million people across diverse regions in the North of England. PANORAMA is working to create a better way for researchers to access and use important information to improve people's lives, while always protecting everyone's privacy.
PANORAMA has been awarded £320,000 by Data and Analytics Research Environments UK (DARE UK) to make research faster and safer, improve healthcare and city planning, and build a national system for sharing data securely.
DARE UK is a programme that aims to establish a safe and collaborative network of Trusted Research Environments (TREs) where approved researchers can efficiently access and analyse sensitive data to advance research for public benefit.
With £1.86 million in funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), DARE UK has launched six new projects, including PANORAMA, enabling over 10 Trusted Research Environments (TREs) to become early testers and adopters of new capabilities developed by TREvolution under the DARE UK Transformational Programme.
The aim is to evaluate the practical viability of these capabilities in real-world TRE or Secure Data Environment (SDE) scenarios and ensure their safe adoption to enhance research data access and analysis for public benefit.
We are thrilled to have been awarded funding to improve researcher experience in accessing data safely, securely and at speed. This funding will allow University of Sheffield and partners across the North of England to tackle technical, legal and governance barriers to data availability, and will lead to hugely impactful research innovations across the region and the UK.
Katherine O'Sullivan
Principal Investigator, Head of Secure Data Services and Data Connect at the University of Sheffield
The six successful projects received a combined total of £1,860,257 to deliver outputs between March 2025 and March 2026.
Reflecting on the launch of the early adopter projects, DARE UK Deputy Director Fergus McDonald said: “These projects represent a necessary step towards enhancing TRE operations in the UK, helping to unlock the full potential of secure data research. It is brilliant to see such overwhelming interest from TREs to be part of the process. By testing these innovations in real-world settings, we are ensuring they are both effective and safe—benefiting researchers, data providers, and ultimately, the public.”
The outcomes from these projects will be crucial in shaping how TREs and data services in the UK adopt these new capabilities. The findings from the feasibility assessments will also help to refine and enhance the solutions, ensuring they effectively meet the needs of researchers, data providers, and regulators alike.
