CO-CONNECT: COVID - Curated and Open aNalysis aNd rEsearCh plaTform

CO-CONNECT is a collaborative project and it has four CO-PIs: Jefferson (Dundee), Sheikh (Edinburgh), Hopkins (PHE) and Quinlan (Nottingham).The UK has rich, globally important COVID-19 datasets, including large serology cohort studies funded by UKRI, Wellcome, DHSC/NHS, NIHR and the devolved administrations. However, this breadth of data creates a risk of fragmentation, inconsistent structure and access processes, severely limiting utility, timeliness and impact.Our vision is to transform UK COVID-19 diagnostic datasets to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and couple this with expert data engineering, enabled by Health Data Research (HDR) UK, to catalyse responsible and trustworthy use of the data for research and innovation.We propose to support PIs and data custodians to link COVID-19 cohort, serology and other health and non-health datasets. This longitudinal linkage is vital to derive new scientific insights and deliver informed decisions about how best to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. At present there are >30 independent studies with no streamlined approach to linkage to other health and non-health related datasets, lack of data standardisation, and no strategic approach to synthesise analyses across studies.SAGE (9th June) requested HDR to work with partners to develop the UK-wide serology and testing data research asset that is linkable to other data sources.This proposal has been prepared in response to this request. We have bought together 41 leaders from 29 different organisations and 44 data sources to address a major data engineering challenge by building upon existing UKRI investments, including the HDR BREATHE Hub, to create a 'one-stop' service for trustworthy, multi-stakeholder utilisation of curated COVID-19 data for public, private and third sector benefit.