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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has awarded £4.94 million towards a £6.20 million programme, TREvolution, to advance the development of key technical requirements and capabilities for UK Trusted Research Environments (TREs) as part of DARE UK, which will involve experts in Nottingham.

Awarded under the DARE UK (Phase 2) Transformational Programme, TREvolution will be jointly led by five leading research institutions in the UK: the Universities of Nottingham, Dundee, Manchester, Swansea and West of England.

In Nottingham, much of the programme work will build on that of the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre’s (BRC’s) Health Informatics team. This programme is another example of the successful partnership between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which hosts the BRC. This partnership has been delivering tools for Health Data Research UK, the East Midlands Secure Data Environment and international partnerships like HEALTHWISE.

The programme of work will be delivered in collaboration with NHS Scotland, Lancashire Teaching Hospital, Durham University, Lancaster University, University College London, University of Queensland, University of Basel and University of Cape Town. TREvolution will address challenges associated with enhancing data access and analysis within TREs – secure environments where approved researchers can access sensitive data for research to benefit the public, such as national public health and population-level surveys.

TREs in the UK are internationally renowned for establishing the Five Safes framework, but they have some limitations for researchers. The manual application processes and disclosure checks make it challenging to keep up with today's scientific needs, like federated learning, analysis across sectors and research domains, and large-scale correlation studies.

TREvolution will address these challenges to evolve UK TRE capabilities across three themes:

● TRE reference architecture and implementations: Standardising UK TRE architectures to enable seamless interoperability.

● AI and semi-automated output checking: Enhancing research output review processes to ensure non-disclosure of personal information.

● Federated analysis: Enabling secure analysis of datasets stored in multiple TREs located across the UK.

This project builds on existing work done by the delivery partners, with experience across the themes, as well as the DARE UK (Phase 1) Driver Projects, which developed initial versions of some of the key components of TREvolution.

The funding call leading up to the award invited teams that delivered specific DARE UK Driver Projects to take the projects to the next stage of maturity. A single joint bid was submitted by TREvolution, a collaboration that builds on synergies between the Driver Projects teams to enhance the components, make them fully interoperable, and transition them into capabilities ready for use in UK TREs.

After an independent panel review process involving key experts and the public, £4,940,092 was awarded, being 80% of the full economic cost (£6,150,739) to support TREvolution from March 2025 to March 2027, ensuring that the outputs developed can be tested, refined, and adopted in real-world research settings.

TREvolution is the first of three initiatives under the DARE UK (Phase 2) Transformational Programme, advancing the further development and testing of core TRE components and capabilities developed in the first phase of the DARE UK programme. Alongside TREvolution, further funding will be provided to support the early adoption of these capabilities by UK TREs and data services and to demonstrate their application through real-world research exemplars.

The goal is to showcase the potential for a connected and efficient national network of secure data infrastructures.

DARE UK Interim Director, Professor Emily Jefferson, said: “TREvolution marks a step change in our efforts to transform the UK’s secure data research ecosystem. This important work will ensure that key capabilities—such as federated analysis and enhanced output checking supporting the training of AI models—are not just theoretical advancements but practical, real-world solutions that enhance the UK’s ability to do impactful research.

"We look forward to working closely with the TREvolution team to advance these innovations and drive meaningful progress in how sensitive data is accessed and used for the public good."

Professor Phil Quinlan, DARE UK lead at the University of Nottingham, who also heads the Nottingham BRC Health Informatics Theme, said:

"This two-year programme marks a significant step forward in enhancing how we work with complex data. We’re excited to collaborate with research partners across the UK and internationally to equip investigators with the tools they need to tackle large-scale data projects. By developing secure and accessible data platforms, we aim to support groundbreaking research across multiple fields."

The TREvolution team will work closely with the DARE UK Delivery Team and early adopter TREs, fostering stronger collaboration and synergy as these critical capabilities are integrated into the UK’s secure data research infrastructure ecosystem.