{"id":156,"date":"2026-09-18T18:56:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/?p=156"},"modified":"2026-09-18T19:07:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:07:59","slug":"taking-the-pulse-of-cancer-data-research-in-cardiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/taking-the-pulse-of-cancer-data-research-in-cardiff\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking the pulse of cancer data research in Cardiff"},"content":{"rendered":"

The data session at the recent Cardiff Cancer Research Partnership (CCRP) Conference, held on 16 September 2026, provided a great opportunity to take the pulse of how researchers, triallists and clinicians across our community are feeling about data.<\/p>\n

At the start of the session, attendees were asked a deliberately open-ended question:<\/p>\n

“What are your current data needs?”<\/em><\/h5>\n

Participants were encouraged to interpret this broadly, whether that meant the types of data they need, barriers to accessing data, or any data-related challenges that could help them deliver better research. Of the 70 attendees who logged into Mentimeter, 55 submitted responses.<\/p>\n

After some light recoding to group similar free-text answers into common themes, we were able to produce a word cloud highlighting the key data needs across the cancer research community.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

The message was clear: access to multi-modal patient datasets emerged as the single biggest need. Encouragingly, this aligns closely with the strategic ambitions of CCRP and the wider Cardiff Health Partners community, which are working to unlock richer, more connected datasets through stronger collaboration between research, clinical trials and NHS organisations.<\/p>\n

Launching the CCRP Data Strategy<\/h2>\n

The conference also marked the launch of CCRP’s new Data Strategy and Delivery Plan, built around three core pillars:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Culture \u2013 improving attitudes, behaviours and confidence around data sharing.<\/li>\n
  • Data Scoping \u2013 making it easier to understand what data exists and how it can be accessed.<\/li>\n
  • Data Quality \u2013 embedding processes and practices that improve the quality and usability of data across organisations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    As a sense check on the strategy, and to help prioritise future work, attendees were asked to rate how important each proposed activity was to them and their research.<\/p>\n

    Responses from 45 participants were combined into a heatmap, providing a clear picture of community priorities. Reassuringly, there were very few responses in the “not important” or “no opinion” categories, suggesting broad support for the overall direction of travel.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n

    What Matters Most?<\/h2>\n

    Using the most frequently selected importance rating for each delivery objective, we can group priorities as follows:<\/p>\n

    Very Important<\/h4>\n
      \n
    • Create data access guides (Culture)<\/li>\n
    • Strengthen collaborations with other units (Culture)<\/li>\n
    • Implement feedback loops around data quality (Data Quality)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Important<\/h4>\n
        \n
      • Establish a CCRP data community (Culture)<\/li>\n
      • Pilot an Innovation MDT (Data Scoping)<\/li>\n
      • Increase opportunities for problem-solving and co-creation (Culture)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Slightly Important<\/h4>\n
          \n
        • Improve understanding of data stewardship (Culture)<\/li>\n
        • Collate unmet data needs (Data Scoping)<\/li>\n
        • Design a data scoping gateway (Data Scoping)<\/li>\n
        • Collect examples of data quality issues (Data Quality)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          What Happens Next?<\/h2>\n

          The message from the conference is clear. Researchers want easier access to data, stronger collaborations, clearer routes to support, and better quality datasets. The good news is that these priorities align directly with the mission of CDHi and the CCRP Data Strategy.<\/p>\n

          Over the coming months, we will continue to build the data community, develop practical tools and guidance, strengthen partnerships across organisations, and create new opportunities for collaboration and innovation. But this is not something we can deliver alone, we need the active involvement of our members to help identify unmet needs, share challenges and successes, contribute expertise, and shape the services and resources that will have the greatest impact.<\/p>\n

          Together, we can create a more connected, accessible and high-quality data ecosystem for cancer research in Cardiff, ensuring that data works harder for researchers, clinicians and, ultimately, patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A summary of data needs shared by the Cardiff cancer community at the CCRP Conference 2026 and views on the prioritisation of delivery of the CCRP Data Strategy.","protected":false},"author":7176,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-futures"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/bioresource-data-accelerator\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}