Data for Research
Unlocking the Power of Health Data to Transform Care
Collecting and using health data empowers clinicians, researchers, managers and policy makers to monitor, evaluate and improve health care—both for individuals and entire populations. Many of the most important questions about improving patient outcomes and health services can only be answered by analysing data from large, diverse groups.
To generate this kind of real-world evidence efficiently, digital technologies and advanced analytics are streamlining how health data is collected, managed and used. At the same time, strong safeguards are in place to protect patient privacy—through legislation, policy, guidance and secure technical solutions.
Connecting Researchers to Health Data
Sydney Health Partners is proud to support the Health Studies Australian National Data Asset program (HeSANDA), a national initiative led by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), making it easier to safely access and reuse health data for research. We have partnered with the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney to lead the Sydney Node of this transformative program – and one of nine such nodes across Australia.
What is HeSANDA?
HeSANDA is building the infrastructure to share and reuse health research data—starting with clinical trials—to accelerate discovery, improve research efficiency, and benefit public health across Australia.
What is Health Data Australia
Launched through the HeSANDA program in 2024, Health Data Australia (HDA) is a national catalogue of clinical trial metadata. It helps researchers find and request access to datasets, while data owners retain full control. HDA supports transparency with study protocols, data dictionaries, and a standardised request process.
Sydney Node Contributions
The Sydney Node (SHP-CTC) has played a key role in developing HDA by implementing:
- a Metadata repository (hosted by the University of Sydney) to securely store high-level descriptive clinical trials information for trials data that may be available for sharing
- a Data request process to review data access requests and allow data sharing.
Get Involved
Are you a researcher interested in seeking or sharing clinical trial data?
Latest Resources
Ethical and Governance Considerations for Data Sharing
Australian Research Data Commons and CT:IQ have launched several practical resources to support sharing of clinical research data in Australia.
Benefits of Sharing Data
Watch this series of short videos from the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), to learn more about the national program to…
Sharing is Caring: Enabling the Sharing of Research Data
This is the recording of a webinar hosted by Sydney Health Partners and the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (University of…
Related Pages
