Privacy-First Research with OpenSAFELY • Eli Holderness & Hannes Lowette • GOTO 2025

This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech Read the full transcription of this interview here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/370 Eli Holderness - Research Software Advocate at Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, Speaker & Professional Nerd @eliholderness8320 Hannes Lowette - Principal Consultant at Axxes, Monolith Advocate, Speaker & Whiskey Lover @Belenar82 RESOURCES Eli https://bsky.app/profile/eli.holderness.dev https://twitter.com/eliholderness https://hachyderm.io/@eli https://linkedin.com/in/eli-holderness-4890b886 https://github.com/eli-miriam https://eli.holderness.dev Hannes https://bsky.app/profile/hanneslowette.net https://twitter.com/hannes_lowette https://github.com/Belenar https://linkedin.com/in/hanneslowette Links https://www.opensafely.org https://docs.opensafely.org/ehrql https://github.com/opensafely-core/ehrql https://youtu.be/sCybe9FAGOc https://youtu.be/jC1icupHlMs https://youtu.be/_-ne2kwF8tc https://youtu.be/Gs1exPFXnQ8 https://youtu.be/-wCzn9gKoUk https://youtu.be/gMNX1Zb7p58 https://youtu.be/k9lwn-RqEsE https://youtu.be/hBxV3Cr0lXY DESCRIPTION OpenSAFELY represents a revolutionary approach to medical research that prioritizes patient privacy while enabling valuable insights from healthcare data. Rather than giving researchers direct access to sensitive GP records, it allows them to submit code that runs in a secure environment, with only privacy-checked aggregated results returned. Hannes Lowette talks to Eli Holderness about how the system works, its benefits for ensuring reproducible science, the challenges of working with data not collected for research purposes, and its potential applications beyond healthcare. The approach balances the need for medical research with strict privacy protections, ensuring patients maintain trust in how their sensitive data is used. TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:47 How OpenSAFELY protects GP data 18:33 Ensuring secure, scalable medical research with OpenSAFELY 21:09 Privacy protection & output checking 22:15 Challenges: Data mismatch, privacy & trust 28:01 Secure, reproducible science with sensitive data 29:36 Outro RECOMMENDED BOOKS Ben Goldacre • Bad Science • https://amzn.to/4lqNLKN Ben Goldacre • Bad Pharma • https://amzn.to/3G15Mz7 Aaron Parecki • OAuth 2.0 Simplified • https://amzn.to/2A3IMOf Aaron Parecki • OAuth 2.0 Servers • https://amzn.to/3ecHEsz Erdal Ozkaya • Cybersecurity: The Beginner's Guide • https://amzn.to/2T6OIj3 Saleem Siddiqui • Learning Test-Driven Development • https://amzn.to/35OMb3n Jacqui Read • Communication Patterns • https://amzn.to/3E37lvv https://bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #openSAFELY #erhQL #Healthcare #ResponsibleResearch #Privacy #PrivacyProtection #Security #Cygersecurity #Rlang #Stata #EliHolderness #HannesLowette CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1