SafePod Network

ADR UK is transforming the way researchers can securely access the UK’s wealth of public sector data for research.  

The SafePod Network is a major innovation that provides a network of standardised safe settings across the UK to improve secure access to data for research that benefits the public.

The SafePod Network has been created to:

• Significantly improve the quantity and diversity of research in the public interest by providing accredited researchers with local, secure access to data.
• Improve and widen secure sharing of data by data centres for public benefit research.

The establishment of the SafePod Network overcomes the geographical, time and cost barriers that may have previously existed for researchers accessing data securely. The SafePod Network will also provide data centres with a flexible and low-cost solution to securely share and widen access to their data for public benefit research.

Key benefits include: 

• Removing the geographical, time and cost barriers to research associated with researchers attending the UK’s current limited and fragmented safe settings by providing secure access to data from SafePods located across the country.
• Providing opportunities to government departments and public sector bodies to significantly widen access to their data for public benefit research across the UK.
• Providing researchers with the flexibility to access data held within different data centres from the same SafePod.
• Simplifying  the safe setting accreditation process. As SafePod controls and their policies are all standardised, the accreditation of one SafePod accredits all SafePods in the network.
• Providing host organisations with their own  safe setting from which they can also view their own data for research.

A SafePod can support both remote and local access to data, dependent on requirements and conditions from data centres that are part of the SafePod Network.  Researchers must have their projects approved by a data centre before they can access their project data from a SafePod.

SafePods are managed by the SafePod Network under their security policies and controls, and a SafePod Coordinator based at each organisation manages their SafePod’s day-to-day operation.  Each data centre sets the conditions for a researcher to access and use a SafePod for the datasets they hold.

SafePods are booked through the SafePod Network website, and priority of access, where needed, will be given for research that is considered critical to society and the economy.