NB-IRDT’s ability to link information from multiple sources has revolutionized data availability for research in the province. The organization strives to use data responsibly to enhance the well-being of New Brunswickers while ensuring their privacy is protected.
As an integral part of the province’s research infrastructure, the institute conducts evaluations for community and government projects, develops research and analytical capacity through training, guides researchers in practical knowledge transfer activities, and promotes research to support evidence-informed decision-making.
NB-IRDT manages individually-linkable data securely without receiving any direct identifiers. This enables researchers to analyze a multitude of factors within their extensive data holdings, yielding valuable insights into complex issues and informing policy decisions in key priority areas.
NB-IRDT can securely link administrative data to external data resources, expanding research possibilities. For instance, linkage of clinical trial data to health and socioeconomic data enables evaluation of long-term outcomes in trial participants.
New Brunswick is a microcosm of Canada with Anglophone, Francophone and Indigenous populations, a matching urban-rural divide, an aging population, and high rates of chronic illness and rare diseases. Datasets enable researchers to study challenges and opportunities at a provincial level and design solutions to be scaled nationally.
NB-IRDT hosts and provides access to over 100 person-level data sets and deidentified information. Examples of available data include prescription drug dispensing records, physician service billing records, students diagnosed with ADHD, IV oncology, cardiac surgery data, COVID-19 case data, and more.
Platform data equips researchers to address questions impacting New Brunswickers’ health, well- being, and prosperity, while safeguarding citizens’ privacy.
Data-related training programs for students, government employees, researchers, and practitioners cover data literacy, knowledge translation, privacy, ethics, statistics, epidemiology, program evaluation, and cost-benefit analyses.
Customized program and policy evaluations help organizations understand the impact of their decisions on outcomes of citizens. Services range from designing of evaluation framework to developing a final report.
Utilizing various methods and channels, research findings are shared with diverse audiences to increase understanding and turn research into results faster.