Data now fuels decision-making in almost every sector of our society. As a result, interest in data-intensive science is growing rapidly as opportunities to explore this expanding resource source abound. A new and related area of interest for social science researchers is highlighted in a recent article: Population Data Science: The Science of data about people. While related to the fields of data science and informatics, it focuses more broadly on data use for positive impact on individuals and populations.

Following the signing of a General Services Agreement between the BC Ministry of Education (MED) and Population Data BC (PopData), MED data may now be accessed by researchers through PopData.

Our society generates exponential amounts of information every day. Big data now fuels the engines of change and influence, but how can we harness this power to make meaningful social change? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping is one powerful knowledge translation tool that can serve this need.

Following the signing of a Third Party Data Steward Agreement between the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) and Population Data BC (PopData), CANUE data may now be accessed by researchers through PopData. 

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer, accounting for 13% of all cancers in Canada. While age is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC), research suggesting the increasing burden of CRC among young persons has been the subject of recent headlines.

Data access has been granted for a study to document the population of children and young persons in British Columbia with medically complex conditions who are at-risk for dying and who would benefit from access to pediatric palliative care services

PopData is performing data linkage for a research study to determine the prescription patterns of common opioids for patients in BC.

Data access has been granted for a study to evaluate the usage of outpatient intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy in BC, and to assess the effectiveness of the G33655 fee code in expanding the use of outpatient IV antibiotic therapy.

Data access has been approved for research to examine the relationship between injury, opioid prescribing and overdose and overdose death, to identify potential strategies for early intervention and prevent illicit drug overdoses in private residences in the Fraser Health Authority region.