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Nicki Tiffin, a Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, is building an online platform – the African Data and Biospecimen Exchange – to facilitate equitable, ethical, and transparent data and biospecimen sharing on the continent, and promote research collaborations to improve health. Sharing biospecimens and data such as human genomics and pathogen sequencing data for use by other scientists is critical to sustain research in Africa. Prof Tiffin has worked extensively across multiple health research domains, built research networks and collaborations across Africa, and is passionate about the effective and ethical use of health data in scientific research. She is the senior author of a journal article that explores the multiple modes of data sharing and how they can facilitate secondary use of sensitive health data for research.

Prof. Tiffin is building a platform where researchers can upload African meta data about datasets and biospecimens they have available to share, without having to put those resources into centralised repositories or cede control over how they will be used. By connecting with those wishing to share their resources, researchers can negotiate equitable collaborative sharing arrangements, and use platform functionality to compile comprehensive sharing agreements. Prof Tiffin is undertaking a consultative process with domain experts to design and implement platform functionality, with the platform expected to launch later this year.