[HEAL Fresh FAIR Tutorial] Identifying and Reusing Datasets in the HEAL Data Ecosystem

Building on recent FreshFAIR sessions highlighting emerging HEAL data reuse opportunities, this extended tutorial provided a structured, hands-on introduction to identifying, evaluating, and working with existing HEAL datasets to support secondary research. 

After briefly reviewing common data reuse challenges, we introduced key HEAL Data Ecosystem (HDE) discovery tools—the HEAL Data Platform and HEAL Semantic Search (HSS). Guest speaker Anna Zajacova, PhD, Professor of Sociology at Western University, shared insights from her experience conducting secondary analysis of large-scale population health datasets.

The second half of the session (1:30–2:30 PM) included two concurrent, interactive breakout sessions, one demonstrating each discovery tool.

The HSS breakout helped participants identify combinable datasets, examine variable mappings, and bookmark relevant studies for potential reuse. The HEAL Platform breakout focused on navigating Platform metadata and demonstrating how to load data into a workspace environment for secondary analysis.

The breakouts were structured to promote active participation and hands-on engagement. As such, participants brought specific research questions or interests to explore directly with HEAL ecosystem experts. 

In preparation, participants could review the April 2026 webinar (available on our YouTube channel and via the links below) and gain familiarity with its content covering HSS and the HEAL Data Platform.