How do I get access to the Project data?
In order to protect Project participants' data, 100,000 Genomes Project data can only be accessed through a secure Research Environment. To access the data for research, you must be a member of the Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership (GeCIP), the research community set up to analyse the Project data. You can apply to join the GeCIP on our website
.
To apply, your institution must have signed the GeCIP Participation Agreement, which outlines the key principles that members of each institution must adhere to, including our Intellectual Property and Publication Policy. All institutions available on the GeCIP application form meet this requirement.
You will not be able to access the Project data immediately. To be eligible for data access, you must meet these requirements:
- Your application to a GeCIP domain has been accepted (i.e. you are an approved GeCIP member).
- Your institution has verified you are affiliated with that institution. Each institution has a membership secretary who is in charge of verifying the institutions of new GeCIP members, and they are contacted when there are new members to review, so no action is required on your part. This verification step is necessary to make sure we know who is accessing the data, in line with the consent that Project participants have given.
Your domain must also have submitted a Detailed Research Plan and had it approved by the Genomics England Access Review Committee. All domains available on the GeCIP application form meet this requirement.
Certain other individuals have access to some of the Project data. For example, students on the MSc Genomic Medicine
have in the past been given access to a small subset of data for teaching purposes, approved individuals from certain commercial companies have access to some data for research, and individuals involved in the pilot phase of the programme have access to pilot data.
How long will it take to get access to data after I apply to GeCIP?
When you apply to join GeCIP, you will be sent an email with your credentials for logging into the Research Portal. This is where you can see your account details, track your application to join GeCIP and view the Research Registry, but it is not where you access the Project data itself - that will be the Genomics England Research Environment. Before you are given access to it, the below steps need to take place. You can track these in the Track my application page of the Research Portal.
Stage 1
- Your application is reviewed by the relevant domain lead(s): this can take up to 10 working days. The domain lead may put your application on hold and request further information from you, in which case it can take longer.
- Your institution's membership secretary verifies your affiliation with them. This can be immediate (if the institution has agreed to "auto-verify" those with affiliated email addresses), but can take weeks or longer. We cannot guarantee a timeframe for these step to be completed because it depends on your institution. In Track my application, you can see the name and email address of your membership secretary and contact them if necessary.
Stage 2
After the two steps above are complete, you will get an email asking you to carry out Information Governance training. Within two hours of passing this training, you will get an email confirming your access to the Research Environment (stage 3).
Example of the "Track my application" page in the Research Portal
I think I should have access to the data. What should I do?
You should have received an email with your Research Portal login details when you applied, or in August 2020 if you applied before this date. You can use these to log into the Research Portal and track your application to see if you have access to log into the Research Environment and any steps remaining if not.
If you haven't received these details, or are having trouble logging in, please submit a ticket to the Genomics England Service Desk
. (You will need to register for the Service Desk portal if it is your first time using it).
If your institution or email address changes, please let us know by submitting a ticket as above, so that your details are sent to the right place.