Funds for short film from Kirkcaldy research project to tap into drug use data

‘My Data – an animated film’ is one of nine projects to receive funding from Research Data Scotland (RDS) to support public engagement in data research.

The project team, based at the University of Dundee’s School of Health Sciences campus in Kirkcaldy, will carry out focus groups with people who use drugs to explore perceptions of the use of administrative data in research. Follow-up workshops will be carried out to produce a stop-motion animation and resources to be shared through the wider community.

The funding of almost £10,000 comes from RDS’s Public Engagement Fund, which supports projects in Scotland that engage with people on data research, empowering them to discover how their data is used and to have a voice in data science.

Dr Louise Marryat, Project co-lead from Dundee’s School of Health Sciences, said, "As researchers we are increasingly using administrative data on the service usage and outcomes of people who use drugs. This helps us understand more about how we can better support people and improve outcomes, including reducing drug-related deaths.

“However, we know little about how people who use drugs feel about us using their data. This project will work with people who use drugs to find out more about their views about their administrative data being used. We will also work together to create a short animated film to inform others about the use of these data for research purposes.”