FACING FEDERATION: STREAMLINING APPLICATIONS AND APPROVALS FOR CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL DATA LINKAGE IN AUSTRALIA.

Speaker: Dr Felicity Flack, PHRN Seminar Date: Tuesday October 17 12:00pm Brief abstract: The Population Health Research Network (PHRN) has been funded via the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), in collaboration with universities, as well as state and territory governments, to develop national data linkage infrastructure for Australian researchers. In 2013-14 the PHRN Program Office consulted with the network client services staff to develop a PHRN Online Application System (OAS) to improve the efficiency of the application process for cross-jurisdictional linked data applications. In 2014 the PHRN OAS was endorsed by all PHRN data linkage units as the agreed application process for cross-jurisdictional linked data projects. However, the business processes that sat behind the OAS remained different for each jurisdiction. The PHRN have recently conducted a project to better understand researchers’ expectations and to develop a consistent national business process for cross-jurisdictional projects. This presentation will explain the work that has been done and the future work planned to continue to improve researcher access to cross-jurisdictional linked data. Short Bio: Dr Felicity Flack has been the Manager, Policy and Client Services for the Population Health Research Network (PHRN) since 2009. In this role she has been responsible for coordinating and implementing responses to the complex legal, ethical and policy environment for linked data in Australia. She also has extensive experience in research ethics, having worked as the Manager, Research Governance and Ethics at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, as a member of a research ethics committee and currently as the Chair of the Sir Charles Gairdner and Osborne Park Health Care Group Human Research Ethics committee.