Background

Health data represents one of our greatest sources of opportunity to develop better health outcomes, but if the public do not trust us with the privacy of their data, this opportunity could dry up.

We are collecting and analysing data of all modalities at an unprecedented pace. We need to ensure that the data collected are secure and the analysis is performed for the purposes of public good. The use of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), alongside other measures such as use of Trusted Research Environments, are one of the methods by which we can mitigate the risks associated with research on sensitive data.

About this course

The first video entitled ‘An introduction to Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs)’ is one of a collection of bite sized video lessons in this course. The entire series of video lessons will provide any overview on the use of Privacy Enhancing Technologies, more in-depth exploration of some of the more commonly deployed approaches and their application alongside other security measures such as Trusted Research Environments (TREs).

Other lessons in the series will cover a broad range of topics areas including:

• How we can, by using Privacy Enhancing Technologies, provide a more secure and trustworthy approach to research use of sensitive data;
• Understanding real world applications of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies;
• The use of Differential Privacy to control the risk of re-identification and disclosure;
• How Homomorphic Encryption, through providing analysis on encrypted data, can support secure and non-disclosive research outside of a domain of trust;
• Exploring how Personal Data Stores and Project SOLID can provide for patient and public control over their own data and consent for us;
• The architectural and infrastructure requirements to successfully deploy Privacy enhanced Technologies.

Intended audience

This series is aimed at researchers and healthcare professionals who wish to understand the application of privacy enhancing technologies for secure research on sensitive data. The introductory video is suitable for all levels of experience, however some of the further videos will assume familiarity with the concepts and mathematics associated with cyber security.

Written transcripts are available in each learning module.