How to Access Data

If you are interested in developing a research proposal working with the Born in Bradford (BiB) project, or would like to access BiB data for a piece of work, you will need to complete a proforma outlining your proposal.

To ensure transparency and maintain the trust of our participants, all applications undergo a rigorous governance process involving both technical experts and community members.

Step 1: Preparation & Data Check Before you contact us, please make sure you have read our Guidance for Collaborators. To understand what data is available, we strongly recommend you first review our Data Summary, which provides a high-level overview of our studies and data structure. For a detailed list of specific variables, you can then explore our Data Dictionary.

If you are still unsure whether we have the data you need after checking these resources, please contact a member of the BiB team (borninbradford@bthft.nhs.uk)

Step 2: Submission & Deadlines Once you have formulated your request, please complete the Expression of Interest (EoI) form (v20) and send it to borninbradford@bthft.nhs.uk.

• Deadlines: We operate on a strict Overlapping Cycle to ensure timely decisions. You must submit your EoI 5 weeks prior to the Executive Meeting you wish to target. Specific dates can be found in our Annual EoI Timeline.
• The Lay Summary: Your application must include a clear, jargon-free lay summary.
  • Important: If our Community Panel cannot understand your summary, your application will be returned for revision, and you will miss the current review cycle. Please explain your research as if speaking to a 12-year-old and avoid medical acronyms.

Step 3: The Review Process Approximately two weeks prior to the final decision, your application will be reviewed by:

1. The Epi-Stats Team: To verify that your requested data exists, is linkable, and that clinical codes (e.g., SNOMED, ICD-10) are correct.
2. The Community Panel: To verify that your research is acceptable to the community and that your lay summary is understandable.

Note: For urgent grant deadlines that cannot wait for the monthly cycle, please flag this to the Administrator. We can trigger a “Rapid Review” for time-critical funding bids.

Step 4: Approval & Fees If your request is approved by the Executive, we will ask you to sign a Data Access Agreement (DAA). If your request involves biological samples, we will ask you to complete a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA).

Please note that as BiB does not receive funding to provide data extracts to individual projects and researchers, there is a fee for accessing the data. The cost depends on the breadth and complexity of the data request—more information can be found here.

You may be aware that, amongst our many fantastic collaborators, BiB is strategically linked to the ALSPAC birth cohort (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/) which is following the lives of 14,500 families in the Bristol area. We strongly encourage you to look at whether this cohort may provide additional useful data or resources for your research project. Further information about how to apply to use ALSPAC data can be found here: https://proposals.epi.bristol.ac.uk/