Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science Pioneering the better use of data, evidence and digital tools in healthcare and policy

We are the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.

We take huge datasets and turn them into traditional academic research papers; but we also build live, interactive data-driven tools and services for everyone to use.

We are a mixed team of software developers, clinicians and academics; we pool skills, knowledge, and best practice from each of these three disciplines.

We use modern, open methods, sharing all analysis and platform code online to support reproducibility, trust, and efficient re-use.

When we encounter technical, regulatory, or organisational blockers to the better use of data, we don’t give up: we share practical policy insights, to help keep things moving for everyone.

Latest from the blog

  1. Bennett Conference session 4: OpenSAFELY research highlights, external perspectives & Peter Bennett

    The final session was a series of talks highlighting some of the research conducted in OpenSAFELY, some external perspectives on OpenSAFELY, and concluding remarks from our benefactor Peter Bennett, and director Ben Goldacre.

  2. Bennett Conference session 3: How OpenSAFELY Works

    The third session in the Bennett Conference was a series of talks describing the overall operation of the OpenSAFELY platform and service.

  3. Bennett Conference session 2: OpenPrescribing

    The second session in the Bennett Conference was a series of talks covering the history, technical underpinnings, research and use cases of OpenPrescribing.

  4. Bennett Conference session 1: Research Integrity & Policy

    The first session in the Bennett Conference discussed past and present work of the Institute on research integrity and policy issues.

  5. Ben Goldacre's inaugural lecture: a whistlestop tour of everything we do, from OpenPrescribing via TrialsTracker to OpenSAFELY and Open Science!

    A whistlestop tour of the whole history of our group, from OpenPrescribing via TrialsTracker to OpenSAFELY and on through Open Science, policy work, and more

  6. Understanding Repeat Antibiotic Prescribing in the Pandemic: Insights On Health Inequalities

    The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped many aspects of healthcare, including how antibiotics are prescribed in primary care settings. In this guest blog, Professor Diane Ashiru-Oredope lead pharmacist for antimicrobial resistance at UK Health Security Agency and our own Brian MacKenna, share some insights on repeat antibiotic prescribing and the link to health inequalities from a recent UK Health Security Agency analysis using OpenSAFELY.

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More than ever before, we now have access to vast amounts of data. We have a responsibility to use, analyse, develop and apply this data in an ethical way to promote change for good — with an emphasis on targeting the right kind of growth and achieving levelling up in society.

Peter Bennett

The founding of the Bennett Institute will allow for more collaboration and flexibility, to respond quickly to global health emergencies and policy challenges alike. It's particularly exciting to continue our work on data outside of medicine, across the broader policy space.

Ben Goldacre

The experience of the pandemic has demonstrated the centrality of both data and evidence, not only in shaping sound government policies, but also in improving public health outcomes. Ben Goldacre and his team have shown just how important universities have been in contributing to the nation's health and well-being.

Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor

The multidisciplinary DataLab team led by Ben Goldacre, have pioneered the use of routine data in novel and impactful ways on clinical care and policy, attracting this most generous donation from Peter Bennett. Their OpenPrescribing platform is used by very large numbers of clinical practitioners and NHS providers to improve prescribing practice. Very rapidly during the pandemic, the team delivered the world’s largest routine clinical dataset OpenSAFELY that helps answer key answers to how we better protect the public from the impacts of COVID-19.

Professor Richard Hobbs