News

UK LLC appointed to develop training Trusted Research Environment    

UK LLC Communications Team

29th Jan 2026

UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC) has been appointed by Population Research UK (PRUK) to develop a pilot training Trusted Research Environment (t-TRE) containing synthetic data, as part of an £850,000 project. Work is due to commence in April 2026.   

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A novel t-TRE with custom training content 

In a t-TRE, researchers would be able to explore what it’s like to work with the linked and pooled data in the UK LLC Trusted Research Environment (TRE). They would learn how to use the tools available to support their analysis, all with synthetic representations of study data and linked health records that resemble what is available in the real TRE yet does not relate to actual individuals.  

This new training ground would provide a real-world imitation that would mean when researchers apply to access the real UK LLC TRE, they would already be up to speed on how to get the very best understanding of these data for their public good research projects. Users of the pilot t-TRE would not be permitted to use it to generate research. 

Richard Thomas, Senior Data Manager at UK LLC says, “Creating a t-TRE would allow us to lower the barrier to entry for working with complex, linked longitudinal data. By giving researchers a safe space to build confidence, test approaches and understand the structure of the data before applying for access, we could help them make better, faster and more effective use of the real UK LLC TRE should access be granted.” 

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Aiming to address three key challenges

• Equipping users to understand how to conduct research using the increasing volume and diversity of record linkages available through TREs.  
• Demystify the tools, systems and working practices of TREs, providing a low-risk method to build experience and encourage working to FAIR principles. 
• Rapid access, enabling users to start to develop syntax while waiting for access to the real data.  

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Meeting the needs of a developing data landscape 

This appointment allows UK LLC to test the feasibility of this new environment. It could support researchers to effectively transition to newly available combinations of study and linked data, their hosting environments, and associated analytical tools. This would be vital as unfamiliarity with settings, tools and lack of methodological insight into key issues such as sample representation and linkage bias are known to be barriers to user uptake. A t-TRE would address a missing infrastructure component and expand the opportunities for scientific progress. 

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Strength in partnership 

UK LLC would host and manage the t-TRE in partnership with SeRP UK, providers of the technical infrastructure. It would co-develop this functionality with key stakeholders including longitudinal studies, data owners, regulators and its public contributors. 

Two large components of this project, the methodological research and synthetic data generation would be delivered by partners who will be appointed via a competitive tender process managed by PRUK. 

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Further information can be found here: 

Explore our datasets – https://explore.ukllc.ac.uk/  
Read our Guidebook – https://guidebook.ukllc.ac.uk/docs/welcome.html  
Apply – https://apply.ukllc.ac.uk/  
Contact: info@ukllc.ac.uk  
Website: https://ukllc.ac.uk/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ukllc/