Scientists, clinicians, charities and governments use biomedical data to inform treatments, care pathways and policies.
Grant funding and publication data is also increasingly being used to identify areas of unmet need.
The GCRFF Data Sharing Initiative
The GCRFF is exploring how partner organisations can best share data.
This will help:
- advance both the common and unique research agendas of each funder
- drive the GCRFF’s mission forward at an increasingly global scale.
This activity is being led by:
- Dr Mariell Jessup, Chief Science and Medical Officer, American Heart Association (AHA)
- Dr Jennifer Hall, Chief of Data Science and Co-Director, AHA Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine.
The GCRFF Data Sharing Initiative uses AHA’s web-based Precision Medicine Platform to bring together grant funding and publication records from most GCRFF partner funders in one easily accessible database.
The data are presently only available to GCRFF partners. In future they may become publicly available to help boost the efforts of cardiovascular scientists, clinicians, patients and various organisations around the world.
This approach will allow GCRFF partners to:
Better understand the overall cardiovascular research funding landscape
By uncovering areas that may be either under- or over-funded, each funder may adjust their funding programmes.
This will help them achieve greater impact and address a wider range of diseases and conditions. For example, it will help avoid duplication of projects in multiple countries.
The database will also help the GCRFF develop joint initiatives aimed at solving pressing cardiovascular health problems currently not receiving enough support.
Identify opportunities for networking and collaboration
Being able to integrate their data will allow GCRFF funders to work more closely together. It will also help open up new opportunities for sustained international collaboration.
This has been shown to lead to transformative, higher-impact results compared to research performed exclusively within borders.
GCRFF data challenge
The GCRFF launched a data challenge on 1 April 2024 that invites data experts from various backgrounds to creatively explore the GCRFF database to its fullest potential.
Work funded through the challenge will inform improvements to the database and demonstrate how best to use data to:
- advance the goals of the GCRFF and wider community
- help influence and shape policy and practice.
Find out more about the GCRFF data challenge and how to apply.
If you have any comments or questions about this work, you can email us at [email protected].