DataStore – a consistent tool across research projects
“DataStore is one of the tools we have been using for some projects”, Thanasis explains. Nevertheless, he wanted to highlight one project in particular, as it encapsulates the main advantages, and in some aspects the essence, of DataStore.
Thanasis is currently working on the Supporting Healthy Ageing at Work (SHAW) study, which is led by Wendy Loretto from the Edinburgh Business School. This study examines how work and health are intertwined in the pre-retirement age group. The aim is to come up with interventions which support health and wellbeing in people aged 50+. The study includes partnerships in industry, social care, charities and research centres across the UK and abroad.
The data used in the project is as diverse as the collaborators. For instance, the Business School gets data from interviews which are transcribed, and Design Informatics organise the collection of data from wearable devices. All this data – in its various formats
– is safely stored on
DataStore, where all SHAW team members have full access in the dedicated project folder which requires user credentials to access. The way
the team have set up the project folder, certain subfolders cannot be
over-ridden to avoid any accidental loss of data. “
DataStore is a convenient way to access the data. It is safe, secure,
handy and backed up
”, explains Thanasis. The research team
purchased extra storage space on
DataStore to accommodate for the vast volumes of data. “
Wearing the Geneactiv smartwatch
device we use in this project generates 600MB of data
for one month per person. You can imagine how much storage is needed if 60 people wear wearable devices for one year!”
More about SHAW
More about DataStore
EPCC – providing high level expertise in data and software development
“I have talked with EPCC about applications for various projects”. As well as providing state-of-the-art facilities for high performance computing, EPCC offers internationally recognised expertise in the areas of data/software research and development. Currently, Thanasis is considering a collaboration in the context of the ENDO1000 project, supported by the EXPPECT Team, which he is part of. ENDO1000 collects detailed data of patients with suspected endometriosis with the aim of developing a resource for future research and more personalised care. EPCC could help develop a smartphone application, customized to collect data from self-reports and sensors in the smartphone. “EPCC have experience with that, they have sent me information on a very similar application they developed for another project”. The collaboration is subject to grant funding, which Thanasis and his team are currently applying for.
DataSync – a solid bit of research infrastructure
Thanasis used DataSync for a pilot study with colleagues from the Usher Institute and Informatics, aiming to improve understanding of certain voice pathologies. In the pilot study, they got data from voice experts who donated their voices. They used DataSync for securely transferring this data back and forth. Unfortunately, the research team was not awarded the grant for the next step in the project, which would have involved receiving data from a larger cohort of participants with voice pathologies. However, as Thanasis explains, “DataSync helped us demonstrate that our infrastructure worked”.
More on DataSync
Prof Thanasis Tsanas is a Professor of Digital Health and Data Science at the Usher Institute.
Read more about his work on his research group website.
This case study was written by Dr Sarah Janac, Research Facilitator for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
