Professor Nik Lomax, Director, Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service, and Adam Milward, CEO, MetadataWorks share thoughts on facilitating research with FAIR data
I (Adam) have noticed recently, during my online food shop, that I’m increasingly being fed ‘personalised’ loyalty card prices based on my shopping history. I must say, the suggestions (usually coffee and various biscuits), aren’t too bad. It did get me thinking though, on the kinds of insights smart shopping data might be able to unlock when applied intelligently and for public good. If you’re a long-time reader, you’ll know I’m passionate about harnessing data for good – and not just to predict my future biscuit buying habits.
Turns out, I’m not the only one thinking beyond biscuits. HASP, or Healthy and Sustainable Places, is a data service based at the University of Leeds. It’s focused on unlocking the power of smart data to help us better understand and improve the health and sustainability of places. The organisation is part of SDR UK, or Smart Data Research UK, the UK-wide programme set up to make better use of smart data for research and innovation.
What does HASP do?
HASP helps researchers to safely access ‘smart data’ or data generated through everyday digital interactions: mobile apps, navigation systems, social media, sensors (e.g. on devices or in the environment), wearables, and much more. The data they deal with is therefore both heterogeneous and extensive, encompassing everything from supermarket loyalty card purchasing records (back to biscuits) to connected vehicle sensors, pedestrian mobility and step counts.
The service aims to build partnerships with businesses and public bodies who ‘own’ the data, facilitating access for place-based research through HASP’s secure infrastructure. HASP produces high quality, equitable research and actionable insights that help policymakers to understand place-based inequalities and what can be done to help reduce them. The team facilitates interdisciplinary research on topics such as healthy and sustainable food behaviour and mobility. Each with the potential to shape future policy, using the power of data for good.
If we look back at the biscuit buying example, a new HASP supported PhD project (in partnership with NESTA) will use smart data from food providers, combined with health outcomes within the NHS secure data environment, to unlock insights into behaviour and health outcomes for places across the UK most in need of support and interventions to improve access to healthy, sustainable and nutritious food. The insights should allow government organisations to focus help where it’s most needed, improving lives and conserving resources – a real-world difference and a far cry from recommending a particular brand for Adam’s food shop.
The engine room
To enable and accelerate such research, vast amounts of data must be FAIR, or findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. After engaging with a proof-of-concept catalogue and onboarding tool the MDW team delivered for the University of Leeds in 2024, HASP approached MetadataWorks at the beginning of this year.
The project had two main aims: 1. To migrate useful datasets to the HASP data platform and continue to expand the catalogue and 2. To provide a public facing interface for a metadata catalogue, ensuring HASP is fit to facilitate groundbreaking research projects. One of the key focuses of the work was to simplify the management process of open and safeguarded datasets, making significant efficiency savings.
The project at a glance
Since the project began, we’ve delivered an intuitive public facing HASP branded metadata catalogue. We’ve encouraged users to engage with the data service, and made it easier and faster to find data.
We’ve also created a unique onboarding tool with a ‘HASP schema’ so that users can now easily curate and publish metadata records in a few clicks.
To further simplify the process for users while maintaining security best practice, we introduced an auto download option for open datasets using Jira forms. The HASP data service team can now easily manage and track data access requests for safeguarded data via the launch of the custom Jira service desk and associated workflow and forms. This means saved time and resources. The service enables queries to be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
The results speak for themselves. The catalogue has only been live for a matter of weeks but has received over 75 data requests.
The future
Whilst we’re all pleased with the progress so far, we're looking to the future. We aim to continue populating the catalogue with additional datasets and, crucially, to enable federation and integration across multiple Secure Smart Data Environments through the SDR UK Hub, furthering its mission to get smart data to researcher. By connecting these environments, we can open broader, more seamless access for data users, supporting richer research opportunities and cross-domain insights.
Alongside the technical advances — which already represent a huge improvement on the manual, complex processes of the past — we’re committed to building a strong community of users, raising awareness of what the catalogue offers, and ensuring researchers can easily understand and work with outputs. With ongoing technical support, training, and user engagement, we expect to see not only accelerated research but also tangible real-world benefits as a direct result of the project: from informing policy with maximum impact to empowering evidence-based decision making that truly improves outcomes.
Join the conversation
To find out more about the project, ask a question or make a comment, book a time to discuss the work with the MetadataWorks team or contact the HASP team at hasp@leeds.ac.uk.