Final steps towards re-opening the UKB-RAP Pinned Featured
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing about the final steps that remain before we can allow researchers back on the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform (UKB-RAP) to resume their research projects.
We have completed the work to ensure that the UKB-RAP is secure. This has been confirmed by an independent cyber security company, and their report supports the re-opening of the UKB-RAP. We are now waiting for agreement from the UK health data controllers and the Government to allow access to the health outcome data of the UK Biobank participants.
As soon as we have that agreement, we shall be back in touch with the leads of each project to manage the phased re-introduction of researchers onto the platform. Initially it will not be possible to take any results files out of the UKB-RAP. We will pilot a manual output checking system this year with a small number of users, working towards an automated system available for widespread use during 2027.
We’ve produced this guide to help you navigate the changes to the platform. I’d encourage you to look at it now so that you are ready to begin work as soon as your access is restored.
I want to thank all those researchers and institutions that have supported the process of confirming deletion of de-identified data provided previously for projects that have now ended. Most institutions are now completely compliant so that all researchers at those institutions will be able to access the UKB-RAP when it does re-open.
However, despite our repeated reminders, we are still detecting a small number of code repositories that include de-identified participant data. As these constitute a serious breach of the Material Transfer Agreement, sanctions are being applied against the researchers who are responsible. Read more about the action we’re taking on code repositories here.
Thank you for your patience while we await approval to re-open. We hope to see many of you at our annual conference on 10 December, where our team will be on hand to offer in-person support with accessing the re-launched UKB-RAP and making new applications.
Best wishes,
Professor Sir Rory Collins,
CEO and Principal Investigator,
UK Biobank
Comments
3 comments
Hi Steven M,
Thank you for getting in touch and for your feedback which helps us to improve. We will be reviewing how we communicate with researchers, and we appreciate your candour during this difficult time. We also appreciate your comments about the work being done and we will share all these points with our wider team.
We’re grateful for your patience and for the support of the research community. We greatly value your work, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you back to the UKB-RAP.
Best wishes,
Dan
Thank you to the UK Biobank team for the work that has gone into getting the RAP back up and running. I appreciate that this has needed a huge amount of expedited effort behind the scenes, and please do not doubt how much as a community we really appreciate that work.
That said, I would ask that once the situation is resolved, UK Biobank takes a hard look at how it has communicated with researchers throughout this unpreceded closure. The gaps between updates have been long, and several posts have drawn many comments from people just asking what is happening. One update gave a target date, only for it to pass with an announcement to follow that it had indeed been missed. At no point have we been given a proper timeline.
That uncertainty has been the hardest part. Many of us are working to strict institutional deadlines, and not knowing when access will return has made it incredibly difficult to plan accordingly. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this will mean a very very heavy workload and some (many) late nights once access resumes. I've been unable to make firm alternative arrangements because ultimately I was working to the idea access would resume in September, but now I have no indication of when access will return. This has also spilled over into life outside work; putting personal plans and goals on hold because I have no idea when I will have to basically drop everything and get as much analysis done as I can for my project, in face of immoveable deadlines. I know others have been affected in similar ways.
I appreciate your efforts and I want to see the RAP restored. But clear, regular communication with realistic and honest timelines is not too much to ask of a resource so many of us depend on, and I hope it is a priority going forward.
Hi Hayley Jane Power ,
Thanks for your comment, we understand the challenges that this has created, and that the lack of an accurate time frame has been unhelpful. We are sorry and we have moved as quickly as possible. We hope to have an update from the UK health data providers and government very soon, and then we will be able to move rapidly.
Best wishes,
Dan
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