The University of Oxford has been awarded a prestigious Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education, recognising the global impact of its OpenSAFELY platform.
Based in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, OpenSAFELY was created during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform pioneered a new method of accessing whole-population NHS GP data—making it available for the first time in history—enabling life-saving research while maintaining rigorous patient privacy protections.
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes, formerly the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, are the highest national honour in UK higher and further education. They are awarded every two years by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, recognising work that demonstrates excellence, innovation, and well-evidenced benefits for society.
Innovating Around Privacy
Traditional data analysis often requires moving large datasets to researchers. OpenSAFELY reversed this approach: researchers develop analyses using ‘dummy data’ and then submit them for automated remote execution against real patient records, without ever moving or directly accessing sensitive information.
The platform has already supported more than 200 projects across dozens of organisations. The official award citation describes OpenSAFELY as: “A globally impactful data analysis platform [that] uses new methods to access the entire England population’s NHS GP records for the first time, meeting complex privacy challenges to enable life-saving research by unlocking and protecting a goldmine of data.”
From Pandemic Response to Broader Health Research
Originally built to study COVID-19 risk factors and vaccine effectiveness, OpenSAFELY was expanded by NHS England in 2023 to support broader health research. Earlier this year, Wellcome made a significant investment to extend its reach to non-UK and non-health datasets, including NHS Talking Therapies records, to explore which treatments work best for different patient groups. Work has also begun on schools’ data in collaboration with the National Institute of Teaching.
A Rigorous Independent Review
The Queen Elizabeth Prize follows a thorough independent review conducted by the Royal Anniversary Trust.
Sir Damon Buffini, Chair of the Trust, said: “The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education celebrate the power of education to change the world for the better. This much-loved national honour recognises outstanding work in UK universities and colleges, and the remarkable benefits they bring to society and the wider world.”
Professor Ben Goldacre, Director of the Bennett Institute, said: “Patient data can supercharge research, but it must be treated with the utmost respect. OpenSAFELY shows it is possible to safely access data while preserving privacy, improving healthcare for all. Our platform is also open to the public: all our code is freely available so anyone can see, understand, and re-use it.
“OpenSAFELY is a huge collaboration, involving our team, electronic health record vendors TPP and EMIS, patient and professional groups, researchers, and NHS England. We are honoured to receive this prize and hope more users will harness the power of secure, confidential patient data for research.”
First awarded by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1995, the prizes recognise outstanding work by UK universities and colleges that demonstrates excellence, innovation, and societal benefit. His Majesty The King has approved awards to 19 higher and further education institutions across the UK. The prizes will be formally presented at a ceremony in London in February 2026.
