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Cerberus: the wearable watchdog
Information for the Public
Thank you for your interest in Cerberus. Your participation will allow researchers to address many key questions in public health research and we are grateful for your time and donation of your biometric data and health information.
If you have any further questions or are interested in participating in our research, please contact us via our contact page.
What is this research about?
Many of us use wearable devices such as fitness trackers or smartwatches daily, generating valuable data about our physical activity, sleep patterns, heart rate, and more. The Cerberus Project aims to build a public databank that collects and stores this data in a secure and anonymised way. The goal is to make this data available for health research, which could lead to advancements in understanding disease patterns, improving remote health monitoring, and providing more personalised health insights.
We believe that your data holds the potential to transform healthcare. If you choose to participate, you'll have the opportunity to donate your wearable device data.
If you choose to participate, we will capture up to 24-months of your wearable device 'history' (depending on howl ong you owned your device for) and will continue to do so for the ensuing 12-months.
Why are we doing this research?
The Cerberus Project is driven by the belief that wearable devices hold untapped potential to revolutionise healthcare and research. Our daily routines, habits, and physical parameters, when captured through wearable devices, can provide invaluable information about our health and wellbeing.
However, these rich data sources remain largely unexplored due to the lack of a centralised system for data collection and analysis. The Cerberus Project aims to fill this gap by creating a public databank that safely stores and manages data from wearable devices, enabling researchers to access and analyse this data on a large scale.
Our goal is to leverage this databank for multiple purposes. We aim to detect public health trends, identify early markers of diseases, and enable remote health monitoring. The insights derived could potentially be used to design more effective health interventions, personalise healthcare, and provide individuals with actionable health insights.
By participating in this research, you are contributing to a collective effort to understand and utilise wearable technology data for the benefit of public health and individual wellbeing. Your data, alongside that of other participants, could provide the key to significant advancements in healthcare.
How will your data be used?
We plan to use data from your wearable device to gain a better understanding of health patterns, lifestyle behaviours, and their impact on general well-being. We will collect data such as physical activity, heart rate, sleep patterns, and other health-related metrics that your device tracks. Importantly, this data will be anonymised - your personal identity will not be linked to the data used in our research.
Once collected and anonymised, your data will be added to the Cerberus databank, a large pool of information from other wearable device users. Researchers will then use this databank to study health trends. In this way, your data could help uncover links between lifestyle factors and health outcomes, contributing to scientific knowledge and public health strategies.
In addition, we'll use your anonymised data to validate the accuracy of different wearable devices. This will help ensure that wearables provide reliable and useful information for their users and healthcare professionals.
Remember, your participation is completely voluntary, and you can withdraw your consent at any time.
Why have you been invited to take part?
You have been invited to take part in this research study because you meet the following inclusion criteria:
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You are a healthy adult who is 18 or older.
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You own or have owned and use/used a wearable device in the past 24 months.
What will happen if you decide to take part in this research study?
You can choose to take in part in this project retrospectively and/or prospectively. The retrospective aspect will include collecting up to the past 24 months of wearable data (depending on how long you have owned and used your device). The prospective portion will involves collecting wearable data for the foreseeable future (or until you wish to remove this access). Presented below is an example of data flow for a participant
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Recruitment & Consent: The participant learns about the Cerberus project and decides to contribute. The participant is given a detailed Participant Information Leaflet explaining the project, data usage, and privacy measures. The participant provides informed consent to share their wearable device data.
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Download the Cerberus App: After consenting, the participant downloads the Cerberus app to their phone. During sign up, the Cerberus app generates an authorisation token from their wearable device app, which allows the Cerberus databank to access their data.
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Data Pulling: The Cerberus platform uses the authorisation token to pull data from the participant’s wearable device. This data includes health metrics such as heart rate, sleep patterns, and steps.
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Privacy measures: Once the data is received, it is immediately pseudo-anonymised. All identifying information, such as the participant’s name or unique device ID, is removed or encrypted.
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Reformatting: The raw data is then reformatted into a consistent .csv format for easy storage and analysis. This includes (but is not limited to) standardising variable names, units of measurement, etc.
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Analysis: The Cerberus team, or automated algorithms, analyse the data to identify patterns or trends. This could include identifying correlations between health metrics, or comparing the participant’s data with the broader population.
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Storage: After analysis, the anonymised and reformatted data is stored securely in the Cerberus databank. This databank is regularly backed up to prevent data loss.
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Access by Other Researchers: Once stored, the data becomes accessible to other researchers for further study.
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Further Use: Depending on the consent given by the participant, their data could potentially be used for future studies or shared with other projects, always ensuring that privacy is preserved.
How will we protect your privacy?
We have implemented robust measures to ensure the protection and confidentiality of your data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.
Firstly, your data will be pseudo anonymised before it is added to the Cerberus databank. This means that any information that could identify you personally will be only be accessible using a 'key' which the research team will have sole access to, and your data will be assigned a unique code.
Secondly, we'll use secure, encrypted systems to store and transmit your data. These systems are designed to prevent unauthorized access and safeguard your information from potential threats. We will also regularly back up our data to prevent loss and maintain its integrity.
Thirdly, only authorized researchers who have signed a data access agreement will have access to the databank. This agreement restricts the use of data for specified research purposes only and prohibits any attempts to re-identify participants.
Lastly, we will conduct regular audits and reviews of our data protection measures to ensure they are up-to-date and effective. We also provide training for all team members to ensure they understand and comply with data protection principles.
You have the right to access, correct, or delete your data at any time, and you can withdraw your consent to participate without any negative consequences.