How we work

An open and transparent approach

It is important to us that everyone, including Longitudinal Population Study participants and members of the public, has the opportunity to learn about our work to have confidence that we operate responsibly and to the highest standards. We will regularly review and refresh the content on this page to keep you informed.

How we work and use data

Our privacy notice provides a clear and detailed description of our methodology and describes how we use data and work with other organisations.

Our Data Use Register describes who is using data in our Trusted Research Environment and for what purpose. When projects are completed, we work in partnership with researchers to publish a summary of their research findings on this register.

The UK LLC Protocol Paper summarises our methodology for a general scientific reader: UK LLC brings a step change in integrating UK and interdisciplinary data for longitudinal research

We have ethical approval to operate our Trusted Research Environment. Our references are

Our Data Access Process

All researchers who want to use data held in our Trusted Research Environment must go through the same, consistent process – there is no other route to access the data.

In addition to research users, our Data Team use the data to conduct essential checks and data processing.

Approved staff from our partner Longitudinal Population Studies are also allowed to see data – about participants in their study only – so they can conduct essential checks and descriptive research, to inform their research community about the data.

Applying to access data is a 3-stage process. This full process is outlined on our Apply page. A summarised version of our 3-stage application process is detailed below:

You can view a template expression of interest form and template application form with guidance notes. These are for example purposes only, if you are a researcher and are ready to make a formal application for data access, go to our Application System – https://apply.ukllc.ac.uk/.

The data access process follows the Five Safes Framework, that allows data to be used for research, while protecting the rights of the participants. You can see how we meet the Five Safes on our Confidentiality page.

How we share research findings

We work in partnership with researchers to produce a lay summary of any research findings. All completed projects will have this featured on their individual project summary, on the Data Use Register.

Periodically, we will work with researchers to produce a more detailed lay version of their research findings. These are shared on the News section of our website.

Data Access Minutes of Meeting

All data access applications are reviewed by our panel made up of participants in our partner Longitudinal Population Studies (LPS) and members of the public, called the Data Access Public Review Panel. And the Linked Data Review Panel, made up of our staff and team members from our partner LPS.

Both panels read each application in advance and attend a meeting where the applications are discussed in detail. You can read more about the remit of our public panel on our Involving the public page.

These meetings are minuted and made available for the public, which you can view below.

Confidentiality Due Diligence Panel Minutes of Meeting

The Confidentiality Due Diligence Panel reviews the documentation involved in onboarding new Longitudinal Population Studies joining UK LLC to make sure they meet agreed criteria for communicating with their participants.

These meetings are minuted and made available for the public, which you can view below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Co-developed with our Public Advisory Group, we have compiled a list of questions and answers about UK LLC, Longitudinal Population Studies and their participants, linking to administrative socio-economic, demographic and place-based data and more: Frequently Asked Questions

Links with the research community

We work closely with UK and international organisations whose role it is to provide safe data for research, our partner Longitudinal Population Studies, and other UK and global Longitudinal Population Studies.

Our Who we work with page has more detailed information.

We are a partner in Population Research UK (PRUK). PRUK is designed to help coordinate and support longitudinal research in the UK.

We are a member of the UK Health Data Research Alliance and have made a commitment to work to the Alliance Transparency Standards.

We are a partner in Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI) and have made a commitment to work to the PEDRI Good Practice Standards.