Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Categories:
- Application Assessment
- Application Submission
- Ethics Approval
- HA Collaborator
- HADCL Data
- HADCL Service
- Support from Organization
- Workshop Enrollment
- Self-service Data Platform
- Others
- Workshop Enrollment
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A: As the seats are limited, only 20 participants can attend in each Hands-on Session. In general, a quota will be assigned to the universities and the seats are given to the applicants who fulfill the prerequisites of Hands-on Session. HADCL reserves the final rights to allocate quota / accept enrolment.
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A: Only those who are registered and get the confirmation from HADCL Office can attend the hands-on session, due to limited seats of each session.
- Application Submission
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A: We welcome the proposal all the year round. The deadline of project submission will be announced later. In case you cannot meet this deadline, your application will be handled in next assessment cycle.
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A: For collaboration projects, you are welcome to submit your project application without attending any workshop. The application submission is all year around. The application can be done online through this website. Please review the information of eligible applicant in Project Application webpage.
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A: The applicant is the main contact of the project during the application submission, and he may/may not participate in the research project. The Principal Investigator is the lead of research who will sign the contractual agreement. Both Principal Investigator and Researchers can physically access HADCL for the research study.
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A: Currently, our application can handle a single Principal Investigator only.
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A: The detailed CVs of Principal Investigator is not necessary during application submission. We shall review the application first and inform you if any supplementary information is required.
- HA Collaborator
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A: The HA collaborators should be HA staff who support/participate in the proposed project. It is desirable to engage them during application submission. If you do not approach the HA Collaborator for the proposed project, you may fill “N/A” in those related fields during the application submission. We will review the proposal and propose a suitable HA Collaborator afterwards.
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A: Honorary contract staff of HA can also be the HA Collaborator of the project.
- Ethics Approval
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A: You may provide the application of Ethics Approval Form for our reference first and then provide the documentary proof to HADCL once it is approved by the relevant Research Ethics Committee. Again, we will only assess the project applications with completed information and documentations (including the ethics approval). If you cannot provide the completed documentation by the deadline, your application will be handled in next assessment.
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A: Both HA’s Cluster Research Ethics Committees and the ethics committee from local universities will be accepted by HADCL.
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A: For application submission, only one ethics approval from the relevant Research Ethics Committee is required by HADCL.
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A: Ethics approval is one of the mandatory requirements of HADCL application submission. Applicant should submit the ethics approval together with their proposed project application for assessment.
- Support from Organization
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A: Support from Organization should be issued by the university to prove the support on the related project. Relevant funding approval issued by the university can also be a proof. Or a supporting letter should be issued by the supervisor of Principal Investigator who is the chairperson of department or above from the university.
- HADCL Data
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A: HADCL can provide images from various modalities in DICOM format.
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A: There are no limitations on the number of data domains for data requests from HADCL. Please be noted that HADCL would assess and provide data based on justifications. In general, data (structured data, DICOM image and textual data) for the same episode / patient could be associated by various unique keys.
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A: Both Immunization and ICPC datasets are available in HADCL for your area of interests. You are recommended to attend the Hands-on Sessions for more details.
- HADCL Service
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A: HADCL has no potential project list yet. We shall review the feasibility on taking this approach in the future.
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A: You can check out the software list and technical platform information of HADCL through our portal. If you are not sure whether the tools can be provided by HADCL or not, please specify them in the tools requirement in your application.
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A: HADCL is a controlled environment which does not allow neither taking away nor copying data. If you would like to use other tools rather than that provided by HADCL standard platform, you can state your tool requirement in the project application. We shall review the feasibility and availability to install the required tools in HADCL.
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A: During the research study, more researchers are allowed to be added. The request should be submitted to HADCL Office 5 working days in advance with justification. Also, the new researchers have to sign the undertaking and follow the related access procedure.
- Application Assessment
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A: The following improvements are recommended:1. Review the benefit and value to the public and HA provided by your proposal2. Review your project scope/objective and refine it to be a more specific one3. Review your data requirement against the latest HADCL data catalogue to ensure the provision of data can be done by HADCL4. Ensure the proposed project can be completed within the limited timeframe provided by HADCL
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A: It is recommended to split the whole research proposal into different phases and state clearly during application submission.
- Self-service Data Platform
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A: Interested researchers from the UGC-funded universities may contact HADCL Office for details of the Data Catalogue before submitting an application.
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A: Dummy dataset is not available in the Self-service Data Platform. Researchers can prepare coding with reference to the Data Catalogue which provides self-explanatory information about data fields and mapping tables for researchers to look up detailed descriptions of different codes.
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A: Self-service Data Platform provides structured data only at the current stage. Unstructured data such as image and free text are not available at this moment.
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A: Successful applicants will receive a user manual which contains instructions on using the Platform and other important information, such as the sampling methodology.
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A: Sample data in the Self-service Data Platform are the health information collected in various clinical information systems. The availability and completeness of data in different systems might vary. Researchers may refer to the footnotes in the Data Catalogue for details. Researchers are also recommended to perform data pre-processing before analyzing the data.
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A: The data schema for Self-service Data Platform is listed in the Data Catalogue. If researchers would like to have more data for a deeper analysis, they may submit proposal for Data Collaboration Project.
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A: HADCL is a controlled environment where neither taking away nor copying data is allowed.
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A: Researchers need to re-apply for access to Self-service Data Platform and may make request to HADCL Office for longer retention period of the research work.
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A: Self-service Data Platform provides specific sample data and analytic tool with a primary aim to facilitate researchers' work including drafting research hypotheses or proposals. Data Collaboration Project offers customised data, analytics tool and technical platform according to the requirement of selected proposals, as well as support from IT and HI professionals for a deeper data analysis. Please refer to the webpages of the two services for details.
- Others
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A: Currently, the services of HADCL are free of charge. Charging arrangement will be reviewed and announced in due course.
Last revision date: 02 August 2023