About DIGIT
About the DIGIT Capabilities Database
The DIGIT Capabilities Database tells industry which UK sites, cohorts, and data assets can support their mental health study, and how to reach the owners. It works alongside the UK's existing catalogues — the Catalogue of Mental Health Measures, the HDR Gateway, and DATAMIND — linking to their records and adding the study-planning metadata unique to DIGIT: population type, trial-readiness, recontact routes, site delivery capabilities, and cohort–site relationships.
Where It Sits
DIGIT stands for Data and Digital Industry Alliance Team. It sits within the UKRI Mental Health Goals Programme. The capabilities database is developed within the Alliance Management Team, based at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, as part of the wider DIGIT programme.
The wider programme brings together mental health data, digital infrastructure, lived experience, industry partnerships, and trials methodology. Within that landscape, this database acts as a structured discovery layer for cohorts, sites, capabilities, and source evidence.
Who It Supports
Alliance Managers
Find cohorts, sites, and capabilities that match industry enquiries.
Industry Partners
Understand where UK mental health trial delivery and data resources may fit a study.
Researchers and Statisticians
Explore metadata that can support feasibility planning and trial design discussions.
Cohort and Site Owners
Review how their resource is represented and validate the underlying evidence.
What The Database Contains
The catalogue describes research sites, cohorts, capability types, and diagnosis areas. It captures structured fields such as geography, site type, trial capabilities, cohort size, consent level, characterisation depth, data availability, linked sites, diagnosis areas, and data access mechanisms.
The intended user flow is cohort first: identify whether an existing cohort may support the research question, then use site capabilities as the fallback route when a new cohort or trial delivery site may be needed.
What It Is Not
- It is not a patient-level database and stores no individual records or identifiers.
- It is not a clinical data warehouse, Trusted Research Environment, or Secure Data Environment.
- It does not grant access to underlying cohort datasets or clinical records.
- It does not replace direct engagement with cohort leads, sites, sponsors, regulators, or data custodians.
Data Quality And Provenance
Every data point should be traceable. The database records source evidence through a structured provenance model, linking sites and cohorts to URLs, papers, registries, and field-level extraction notes where available.
The current dataset is source-backed seed data and remains subject to owner validation. The validation packs are designed to help cohort leads and site representatives review the recorded metadata and supporting evidence.
Prototype Status
The current Next.js application is a demonstration layer for exploring the data model, API, provenance workflow, and validation process. The durable assets are the PostgreSQL schema, seed data, API routes, and source provenance structure.
Over time, the database can support self-population, owner verification, monthly refresh checks, and integration with the wider Mental Health Goals web platform and recruitment feasibility tools.