UK Biobank

As 2024 comes to an end, we’re wrapping up the year that was by celebrating some of our favourite moments from the last 12 months. Take a look below 🔽 🎁 Global Research Access Fund Launch: In April we announced the launch of a new fund to cover the application costs of approved researchers from lower income countries, with the aim to further democratise worldwide access to our database. Find out more: https://ow.ly/M3yJ50UuQzf 🎁 10 Years of Imaging: 2024 marked a decade of our world-leading imaging study. It provides researchers with unprecedented insight into how the body ages, allowing scientists to reveal what’s happening when things start to go wrong. We are well on our way to reaching our target of 100,000 participants scanned, surpassing 90,000 this year. Learn more: https://ow.ly/xVhO50UuQzb 🎁 2024 Scientific Conference: 'We hosted our annual Scientific Conference at the QEII Centre in London in December, with more than 700 people in attendance and 1,450 streaming online from over 70 countries around the world. For the first time, we also invited over 250 UK Biobank colleagues to the event. All sessions are available to view online: https://ow.ly/wF3o50UuQze 🎁 Over 14,000 Peer Reviewed Articles: The number of peer-reviewed research publications using UK Biobank data surpassed 14,000 this year. With over 19,000 active researchers currently using our data, we’re excited to see this figure grow in years to come. 🎁 Two Secretary of State Visits: We hosted two Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in 2024; first Michelle Donelan in February and later Peter Kyle in July. The latter was part of a new funding announcement for UK Biobank from the UK Government and Amazon Web Services (AWS) of £16 million. Learn more: https://ow.ly/Ijfp50UuQzc

"It's going to change the way we treat and prevent disease" Professor Naomi Allen, Chief Scientist, UK Biobank UK Biobank contains the health data of 500,000 UK participants and is used by researchers across the globe to find new treatments and cures for diseases like diabetes, dementia and cancer. That’s why we’re matching Amazon Web Services (AWS) £8 million funding, boosting data storage and keeping this world-leading facility at the forefront of medical research.

We’re excited to announce that, as part of the transition to the RAP-by-default model for accessing UK Biobank data, we are extending our credits programme to support researchers with the costs of using the UKB-RAP. Funded by Wellcome Trust, the UKB-RAP Transition Credits Programme offers £1,000 in credits for each approved project. Researchers can also request enhanced support beyond £1,000 on a case-by-case basis. ✅ Applications for funding are now open! If you're interested, you can find more details, including eligibility criteria, and apply for credits here: https://ow.ly/1uRv50UpX1h We encourage our approved researchers to take advantage of this opportunity to explore the UKB-RAP’s benefits, including direct access to the most up-to-date dataset and high-performance cloud computing, enabling you to drive innovative research that advances public health and patient care.

You can now catch up on all of the sessions from our 2024 Scientific Conference! ✅ 📺 Watch now here: https://ow.ly/isK250UpWqs

Yesterday we were delighted to announce the winner of the UK Biobank Early Career Researcher of the Year Award for 2024 - Mr Art Schuermans at our annual conference 🎉 A huge congratulations also go to runners up Ms Saba Ishrat, Dr Maria Zanti and the highly commended entry from Pavel Loginovic #UKBSC24

It’s vital that our participants are involved in the ever expanding UK Biobank journey. We caught up with three members of our Participant Advisory Group ahead of yesterday's conference, to hear about their experiences representing their fellow participants. Watch below 🔽 #UKBSC24

“I feel incredibly proud that this is something that is taking place in the UK.”    📽️ We were delighted to receive a special message from Lord Patrick Vallance today at the UK Biobank Scientific Conference. Take a look ⬇️ #UKBSC24 Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

There’s just 3️⃣ days to go until our annual Scientific Conference in London! There’s still time to register to watch online, or if you’ve already registered, prepare for the day by viewing the agenda: https://ow.ly/mQQH50UmspU #UKBSC24

Did you know that 25 million people in the UK volunteered at least one day of their time last year? We’re marking #InternationalVolunteerDay this year by celebrating some of our fantastic UK Biobank colleagues that give up lots of their time away from work to support worthwhile causes and organisations. ✅ Caroline Clark, Head of our Project Management Office has been a volunteer at Tam O’Shanter urban farm for three years. Located in an area considered in the top 10% of deprived areas in the UK, the farm offers children and adults alike an enjoyable and educational experience of farm life. On volunteering Caroline said: “I enjoy working with teenagers. With the way in which our lives have changed, young adults don’t get to experience the more practical things in life; getting them focused on a project, learning new skills and working as a team is rewarding.”  Steve Garratt, Imaging Programme Manager, spends his spare time volunteering with his local Scouts group. Joining over a decade ago as a parent helper when his son joined Beavers, he has since become a Section Team Leader and Trustee for the group: “Scouts is all about the personal development of young people. Bit of a cliche, but young people literally are the future and I think giving them opportunities to have adventures, learn and grow is really important.” Lucy Burkitt-Gray, Lead Data Analyst at UK Biobank, volunteers at Ivy Dene Rabbit Rescue. Promoting the appropriate care, treatment, security and re-homing of rabbits that need attention, the organisation’s work is important to Lucy, a trustee and lover of rabbits: “I help with fundraising for the charity, such as running stalls to raise money. As a trustee I’m also jointly responsible for welfare, policy and financial choices of the charity. I like to use my skills to support a good cause and I really love rabbits!” This #InternationalVolunteerDay we applaud all of our members of staff who give up their time to support local initiatives.

✅ Register today to join us at The Festival of Genomics and Biodata, taking place 29-30th January 2025 at Excel London. Speaking at the festival will be UK Biobank Chief Scientist Professor Naomi Allen and Deputy CEO Mark Effingham. You can discover more about their talks, as well as how to register here: https://hubs.la/Q02TptWZ0 Registration is free for over 90% of the audience! Front Line Genomics #FOG2025