SATRE Collaboration Café 15th June: Public Involvement and Engagement of Trusted Research Environments
At our recent Collaboration Café on the 15th June, we invited members of the SATRE Community to consider the role of Public Involvement and Engagement (PIE) in the building and utilization of Trusted Research Environments (TREs).
Community members shared diverse perspectives and shared experiences of PIE in the governance of TREs, in which the main themes are summarised below:
👍Communication of Research Projects
The Collaboration Café concluded with a recommendation that details about research projects conducted within TREs should be publicly shared through various means such as TRE websites or annual reports. Participants pointed out that this initiative promotes transparency and provides the public with an understanding of ongoing research, thereby fostering trust. Some participants even expressed their willingness to share a list of running projects, albeit anonymized to maintain privacy and protect the integrity of the data.
Public Inclusion in the Approvals Process
One of the recommendations was to involve members of the public in the approval processes of TREs. This could be accomplished via a public panel or by including members of the public on an existing approvals panel. Involving public members ensures the decisions made within the TRE align with public interest and ensure data is used safely for public benefit. Some participants mentioned ongoing efforts to establish such public involvement in their approvals processes.
Ensuring Representative and Inclusive Public Engagement Activities
Participants emphasized the importance of ensuring that all public engagement activities are representative and inclusive. Best practices such as PEDRI should be utilized to ensure a representative sample and accessibility. Transparency and inclusivity enable a wider range of views to be considered, thereby enriching the design and use of TREs. However, participants also discussed the challenge of communicating complex TRE-related information to the public, emphasizing the need for clear materials and resources to avoid confusion.
A Focus on Public Trust
A strong theme from the discussions was the prioritization of public trust. To uphold this trust, organizations operating TREs must have public consultation procedures in place and build on previous engagement work. This helps establish a two-way dialogue with the public, ensuring their concerns and views inform the design and use of TREs. We discussed that given how critical it is for the success of TREs to be lead by PIE discussions, there was a suggestion for a national program to educate the public about TREs.
An interesting reccomendation that emerged was the development of an accreditation system that incorporates public trust considerations, such as a bronze, silver, gold standard, alongside the recognition of different TRE architectures for varying organizations.
Summmary
The Collaboration Café on PIE allowed the SATRE Community to share knowledge and debate the best way to involve the public in the design and operation of TREs. The discussions highlighted the critical role of transparency and public trust in the effective implementation of TREs. The inclusion of PIE in the standard architecture for TREs was generally supported, and these considerations will be taken into account as we move forward with the SATRE project. We plan to hold further public consultation sessions in future.
The SATRE Community is currently writing up these discussions as recommendations in the SATRE Specification Document. If you would like to contribute to SATRE, please sign up here and see how our upcoming Collaboration Café schedule. Thank you to SATRE Community members for being able to contribute so far!
