Australia’s Learned Academies will be working together with the Australia Research Data Commons (ARDC) on a joint project designed to map how big data is used in research.

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences will join the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, Australian Academy of the Humanities, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and Australian Council of Learned Academies in the 12-month project, commencing in July 2021.

Each Academy will be conducting an environmental scan to identify data and infrastructure requirements within and between research disciplines. AAHMS will be investigating use of big data sets in health and medical research conducted in clinical, public health and laboratory settings. This includes areas of research such as genetics and genomics, biostatistics, population health, bioinformatics, data linkage in drug dependence, epidemiology, patient registries, biobanking, clinical trials, health economics and health of First Nations people. This project aims to uncover how these data and infrastructure are used and what is needed to better enable researchers to address society’s greatest challenges.

For more information about the project, visit the Australian Research Data Commons website.