In recent years, journals and funders have encouraged researchers to share their data, so that they can be re-used, reanalysed and built upon for the advancement of scientific knowledge. Wellcome is one such funder that is committed to open science. To highlight this and encourage the re-use of data, Wellcome has launched a new competition with two prizes for the most innovative new insight, tool or health application generated using data from one of two open data sources.

Entrants are asked to explore potential research questions on two public health topics of strategic importance to Wellcome – antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and malaria – using data from either the AMR register or the Repository of Open Access Data resource from the Malaria Atlas Project (ROAD-MAP), respectively. Submissions, which are likely to be in the form of a piece of code or analysis accompanied by a narrative description of the work, will be judged according to novelty, potential health impact and robustness of methodology, among other criteria.

Registration is now open for both prizes. The deadline for submission is the 28 February 2019 for the AMR surveillance prize and 15 March 2019 for the malaria prize. Winners of the two £15,000 prizes (plus two £5,000 runner-up prizes) will be announced in April. Entry details can be found here.

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Summary by Alice Wareham PhD, CMPP from Aspire Scientific

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With thanks to our sponsors, Aspire Scientific Ltd and NetworkPharma Ltd