Our Data science and AI strategy
We're committed to building a world-leading, ethical data science and AI ecosystem that drives discovery, revolutionises kidney care, and delivers better patient outcomes.
By 2031, we will strengthen the national kidney data infrastructure to power high-impact research, foster a thriving data science and AI community, and champion NHS-wide innovation for equitable improvements in kidney health.
We will make data science and AI run through everything we do - supercharging the research we fund and strengthening our case as we advocate for the kidney community.
Principles
Ethics:
We uphold the highest standards in data use and AI development, ensuring transparency, consent, accountability, and human oversight in all applications. AI will always support, not replace, clinical judgement.
"Many patient groups worry about data being used inappropriately or without clear consent, so building trust through clear communication, strong safeguards, and genuine patient involvement is crucial." Carer of a kidney patient
Health equity:
We are committed to ensuring data and AI reduce, not reinforce, health inequalities. This requires representative datasets, inclusive design, and co-production with underserved communities.
"If the data doesn’t represent everyone, the science won’t benefit everyone. Breakthroughs only count if they reach everyone. We need to apply AI and data science in a principled and equitable way so discoveries land where they're needed most."
Dr. Rachel Hung, Renal health data science network co-chair
Infrastructure
By 2031 we will have transformed fragmented kidney data systems into a globally leading, connected kidney data powerhouse. High-quality, discoverable, and reusable data is the foundation of all data science and AI progress.
The UK kidney data landscape is rich but still fragmented, with significant potential to improve how data is shared, integrated, and reused across systems. Bidhan Pant, UK Kidney Association
The BHF Data Science Centre Kidney Catalyst
We’re working to strengthen the infrastructure that enables researchers to securely access, link, and analyse the UK’s rich health data, accelerating better prevention, treatments, and care for kidney and cardiovascular disease.
Data deposition policy
Our data deposition policy for the research we fund highlights our commitment to shared standards, deposition in domain-specific, open-access repositories, and data reuse. We believe that as a funder we have a responsibility to drive an open, interoperable data ecosystem.
NURTuRE
We’re growing the infrastructure behind NURTuRE so it can support more researchers, more kidney conditions, and deeper multiomic discovery across the kidney community.
Research and impact
By 2031 we will have delivered a world-leading kidney data science and AI research programme that accelerates discovery, improves patient outcomes, and advances health equity.
"I don't believe that progress in research is possible without using data." Kidney patient
Data science and AI funding call
We aim to accelerate our strategic goals by funding outstanding data science and AI-enabled research that ultimately improves the lives of kidney patients. We invite research multi-disciplinary proposals addressing kidney-related questions through the full breadth of data science approaches, ranging from bioinformatics and omics to health data science.
Our research community events
Our multidisciplinary events aim to bring together data scientists, bioinformaticians, AI experts, and kidney scientists and patients and community groups to catalyse excellent ideas in kidney data science.
Training and community
By 2031 we will have built a diverse, sustainable, and world-class kidney data science and AI community, supported by strong training pathways, multidisciplinary collaboration, and long-term career development.
“We feel there's an opportunity to train up the next generation. Biomedical data science is a serious career that needs serious training.” Professor Andy Jones
Healthcare optimisation
By 2031 we will have used data science and AI to transform kidney care delivery, enabling earlier diagnosis, better treatment decisions, reduced inequalities, and more efficient NHS service design.
Our strategy development journey
As a funder, we take our committment to community-driven strategy seriously. Our strategy development process was driven by extensive engagement with people with lived experience of kidney disease, including patients and carers, and the kidney researcher community.
Nearly 100 people engaged with our online consultation, online workshops and one-on-one interviews. We have also been privileged to work with use MY data | patient-led data advocacy to gain new perspectives on the patient’s perspective in using health data for research.
Got a question? Get in touch.
For more information or if you'd like to discuss an idea, get in touch with our research operations team