It’s estimated that over 5 million people have asthma in the UK alone, with the UK having one of the highest rates in Europe.  Understandably, therefore, it’s a significant area of research, and a new digital platform aims to support these efforts.

The platform has been developed by the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, and aims to bring together the full gambit of applied research in the field, as well as connecting up with platforms that support and facilitate asthma research.

Training support

The resource also aims to help the next generation, with an extensive training program for the next generation of researchers. The new website highlights opportunities for prospective PhD students, as well as giving lots of information on current students.

It is probably in terms of data that the site really comes into its own though. The platform will host a series of curated big data sets around asthma in the UK so that researchers can easily see what data is available, who holds it, and how they can obtain the data required for their research.

The Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research Methodology Platform shares expertise in planning, executing and analysing data from trials, and is developing mechanisms to facilitate secondary uses of data.

“I am delighted to launch this new website on World Asthma Day. It will be a great resource for anyone interested in applied asthma research,” they say.