By Janna Xu, Senior Research Data Curator, Research & Data Services
Some of the most valuable research data is also the hardest to reach. Health, workforce and learning datasets can transform a research project, but they are often sensitive, siloed and governed by access rules that are unfamiliar to many researchers. On 4 September 2026, we invited the SMU community to take a closer look at how this barrier can be lowered.
“Break the Data Barrier: Unlocking Trusted Data for Research Across SMU and Beyond” was a half-day seminar held at the Hive, Li Ka Shing Library, and brought together faculty members, researchers and administrative colleagues. Organised by SMU Libraries, the Provost’s Office (PVO), and Integrated Information Technology Services (IITS), it introduced SMU’s trusted data ecosystem through research use cases, dataset showcases, a hands-on introduction to data discovery and anonymisation, and a platform demonstration.
Why this seminar, and why now
SMU’s Data Stacks Initiative supports high-impact research across SMU’s three strategic areas: ageing societies, sustainable cities and resilient workforces. A key part of the initiative is enTRUST, a centralised infrastructure and governance platform developed by GovTech that enables the safe and secure sharing and use of research and real-world data. Within enTRUST, SMU is developing its own sector to support approved research projects involving sensitive data from government, industry and institutional partners.
For researchers, the practical questions are simple. What data is out there? How do I find out about it? How do I request it? And how do I work with it safely? The seminar was designed around these four questions.
What we covered
Setting the scene. Dr Cheong Wei Yang, Vice Provost (Strategic Research Partnerships), opened the seminar by explaining why trusted data matters for research and the role of secure cross-sector data within the Data Stacks Initiative.
Hearing from fellow researchers. Associate Professor LI Jing and Associate Professor KIM Seonghoon from the School of Economics shared case studies using TRUST data for their research projects. Hearing directly from colleagues who have worked with such data made the possibilities, and the practicalities, much more tangible.
Exploring SMU’s own data. Mark Chia Mingde, Chong Kok Soon and Janna Xu introduced selected SMU datasets and their potential research applications, including For Assessment of Continuing Excellence in Teaching (FACET) data from Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), SMU Academy learning data and Library resource usage data. These examples showed that valuable research data is not only found in external agencies but is also generated within our own university.
Discovering and using sensitive data safely. Janna Xu gave a hands-on introduction to the TRUST and enTRUST data catalogues, and the privacy-preserving toolkit Cloak that is free for SMU users.
Seeing the platform in action. Liu Huimei from IITS walked participants through SMU’s enTRUST environment, the secure analysis workflow and the researcher journey, helping to demystify what it looks like to work inside a secure data environment.
Key takeaways for researchers
- Start with discovery. The TRUST and enTRUST metadata catalogues let approved users find out what data exists and how to request it before committing to a project design.
- Treat privacy as part of the workflow. Anonymisation works best when it is planned from the start. Cloak supports tabular and free-text anonymisation, mock data generation and API integration. For more details, check the Data Anonymisation Guide.
- Learn from peers. Real research examples help to make secure data environments less intimidating and more practical.
- Governance is built in. Secure environments such as enTRUST are designed around the Five Safes (Safe Purpose, People, Settings, Data and Output) framework and are intended to reduce data-access time while keeping data protected.
What participants told us
We were delighted by the strong interest from the SMU research community. Many participants shared that the session helped them better understand how to access datasets from government and industry sources, and how the Data Stacks Initiative can support their research. There was particular enthusiasm for TRUST, enTRUST and Cloak, and for their potential to help researchers unlock the value of data responsibly and securely.
Getting started
- Register for an enTRUST metadata catalogue account to explore available datasets.
- Read more about Cloak in our earlier Research Radar article: Cloak: A Practical Privacy Layer for Research Data Workflows.
- Explore the Cloak LibGuide for step-by-step guidance: Cloak research guide.
- Interested in enTRUST, the data catalogue, data anonymization or a possible research collaboration? Write to us at library@smu.edu.sg.
