META-DAC - Managing Ethico-social and Technical issues and Administration of Data Access Committee (360G-Wellcome-206270_Z_17_Z)

We propose establishing a multi-agency data access committee (the META-DAC) to service several of the nation’s major cohort studies and to provide a scalable mechanism to incorporate additional cohorts in the future. From 1 May 2015, the META-DAC will manage and provide decisional oversight of access by researchers and other bona fide professionals to data and biosamples held by the initially designated studies: 1958BC, 1970BC, Millennium BC and Understanding Society and, initially as a pilot of scalability, incorporation of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). The META-DAC will develop, implement and maintain all administrative and technical activities plus policies needed to realise an access mechanism that is fit for purpose given the complex biomedical/social data and samples in question. It will audit its own activity and provide regular feedback to funders and individual studies.