Connect 4

About Connect 4

Connect 4 is a project investigating the federation of data services across the UK’s four national Trusted Research Environments (TRE). It focuses on the Integrated Data Service (IDS) — a major cross-government project for which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the delivery lead — and the Scottish National Safe Haven. An element of the project is developing rich metadata for the discovery of federated sensitive data.

The project started in April 2024 and concludes in December 2025. Connect 4 is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), under the ‘Future data services: pilots to enhance data services for the future’ programme (ES/Z502972/1). It is a multi-partner project led by EPCC at the University of Edinburgh with Research Data Scotland (RDS), the ONS, Public Health Scotland and National Records of Scotland.

Our work and impact

Much data kept by public organisations such as Government departments contain sensitive data about UK citizens and businesses. Since the Digital Economy Act 2017, progress has been made to enable accredited researchers to access this data to perform studies that are in the public benefit. Accredited researchers can submit proposals to a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) to gain access to data held by that organisation. This approach ensures that sensitive data is kept safe and secure.

The challenge for researchers is to answer research questions where datasets must be combined before analysis, and where two or more datasets are each owned by different TREs. The following two barriers were identified:

• A researcher cannot see these datasets and - based on the available metadata for these datasets - cannot assess whether a combination is feasible or will lead to a sensible analysis
• The policies that govern access are specific between the data owners and the TRE

Connect 4 aims to overcome these barriers, and there are three work packages involved to explore and develop solutions. RDS is leading on one of these work packages, and elements of another, in partnership and close collaboration with ONS. Through the first work package, we have produced a roadmap of the improvements and arrangements required to allow researchers to discover, apply for and analyse data held at UK national TREs through a single front door.

The second work package focuses on how to deliver on the roadmap. We have looked at information governance, the standards, policies and procedures already in place, and have identified areas for alignment. We have drafted a shared service model that shapes the delivery of the changes outlined in the roadmap and will continue to work on this with input from partners and researchers for the remainder of the project.

Other project work, led by EPCC, involves research requiring data access from ONS and the Scottish National Safe Haven, to carry out metadata enhancement work. This element of the second work package aims to develop software that automatically creates rich metadata, which will help researchers understand whether they could perform an analysis if they had access to the data, and therefore enable researchers to decide if the investment to combine datasets is worthwhile because they can determine beforehand if the necessary data are present. Researcher input has fed into this piece of work, and project members are now close to gaining data access to carry out the metadata and study tasks.

There is also a trial use case underway in the third work package that has been informing the other Connect 4 work packages and laying the foundations for ongoing federation across UK national TREs. RDS is not directly involved in this workstream, but we work closely with EPCC and will provide suggestions and input as appropriate.

Jen Muir, Senior Data Analyst at RDS, said: “The roadmap will be the first step in delivering federated data access across the UK’s four nations. RDS is leading on describing a shared service model that the UK national TREs could adopt to provide a sustainable route for federated data access for research, and an information governance (IG) framework to support and enable the model with recommendations for policies across the TREs. These work packages will help provide clarity for researchers working across the system and requesting safe and secure access to data.” 

Kostas Kavoussanakis, EPCC TRE Service Manager, said: "Connect 4 is an ambitious endeavour towards frictionless, UK-wide, impactful data-driven research and innovation. It is the seed for what needs to become co-ordinated action across the UK.” 

Carmen Amador, Senior Assistant Statistician at NRS, said: “We’re delighted to be involved with the Connect 4 project. Making Scottish data available for research is really important, and this project is a step towards being able to connect that data to the rest of the UK.” 

PHS Head of Data and Modelling Services, Carole Morris, said: “The creation of a single front door for accessing data held in TREs across the four nations would enable researchers to generate deeper insights to benefit people living in Scotland. The Connect 4 project is a valuable milestone towards this, and I’m excited to see how the project progresses.” 

Emily Symmons, Head of Relationships, IDS, said: “I’m proud to be working on the Connect 4 project towards a standardised approach to accessing data across the UK. We will work across each of the project’s workstreams, and we’re pleased to be collaborating with the other organisations towards this shared goal.”