If you wish to access BioResource data, please use this Data Access Application (DAA) form. To add additional researchers to an existing application please use the Additional Applicants form.
Download Additional Applicant form
Please note: the form will be shared with external stakeholders for review, and - if successful - some of the key details on the form will be made public, on our "data use register".
Data types
Data that can be accessed include genetic data (Genotyping array or Whole Genome Sequencing), Phenotypic data (Health and Lifestyle questionnaire or Clinical), and Metabolomic Data. Linkage with NHS Digital, Public Health England and ICNARC data has been achieved for some COVID studies.
Timelines
We aim to process data-only requests as quickly as possible, with a Data Access Committee meeting fortnightly to consider applications. However, applications with an industry element are considered by our Steering Committee, which meets quarterly.
Once approved, some data access requests can be fulfilled rapidly, others take more time. Please take a note of likely timeframes when completing your application:
Within 2 weeks
- Access to genetic sequence data held at the University of Cambridge’s High Performance Computing facility
- Access to genetic and genomic data held at the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)
Up to a month
- Data that requires substantial de-identification before it can be accessed.
More than a month
- Bespoke data that requires substantial processing before it can be accessed. (The time this takes will depend on the type of data requested)
- Requests that seek linkage with e.g. NHS Digital data.
Access or download?
Increasingly data is accessed in situ, both as a legal stipulation of the source of the data (e.g. NHS Trust, NHS Digital) and as a privacy protection measure.
However, some de-identified research data is available for download too, e.g. genetic data at the EGA.
You can also look at our list of approved researchers and institutions.