The VRC Project

The Virtual Research Campus (VRC) is a state-of-the-art data management platform that is currently being developed by the University Hospital Würzburg, the Service Center Medical Informatics (SMI, from the German acronym for System Medizin Infrastructure) and the Core Unit RDM team in collaboration with the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) project at Charité Berlin. Drawing inspiration from the successful VRE model, our VRC is designed to facilitate data discovery, secure access, and innovative use for researchers.

The VRC serves as a comprehensive data management solution that empowers medical researchers in Würzburg and related communities. It enables the storage, retrieval, analysis, and sharing of data, including sensitive information, thereby removing barriers to biomedical research and fostering innovation.

In close collaboration with Charité Business Division IT, we have adapted and extended the VRE concept to create the VRC concept. This collaboration ensures that our platform adheres to the highest standards of data management and security.

To confirm the commitment to data privacy and compliance, the VRE Berlin has successfully undergone a GDPR Service Readiness audit by an independent law firm. We aim to provide commissioned data processing services for health-related research projects in full compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The VRC is firmly grounded in the FAIR guiding principles – Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability. It promotes interoperability with international data commons, including projects like EBRAINS and the Virtual Brain Cloud, aligning us with the European Open Science Cloud's mission.

Key Features of the VRC:

• Findable: Built-in metadata capture, indexing, and storage, with support for unique identifiers and flexible data organization.
• Accessible: Transparent access policies and robust authentication and authorization procedures.
• Interoperable: Seamless integration with international data commons and support for common data standards.
• Reusable: Annotation tools for rich metadata description, internal provenance tracking, and Datalad support for code and metadata provenance.

The VRC operates as a module within the BIH Charité Health Data Platform systems (HDP), leveraging its computing and storage resources. Our platform offers specialized methodology and technology capabilities for data processing, management, visualization, and analysis.

Key Features of the VRC Include:

• A web portal with project- and role-based access controls and federated identity management.
• A segregated "Green Room" zone for sensitive data preparation.
• Analytics workbench tools for data processing, analysis, and visualization.
• Automated data ingestion from hospital-based sources.
• Project-specific Data Warehouse for structured data ingestion and querying.