Open Science Infrastructure grant for Daniala Weir

Dr. Daniala Weir, Assistant Professor at the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht University, has been awarded an Open Science NL – Open Science Infrastructure grant for the project OPEN-MRH: An Open Science Platform and Novel Dataset to Address Medication-Related Harm. The two-year project aims to strengthen international research collaboration and improve patient safety by making high-quality data on medication-related harm more accessible and reusable. 

Medication-related harm (MRH) is a major but under-recognised problem in healthcare, contributing substantially to avoidable hospitalisations, patient harm, and healthcare costs. Despite its impact, research in this area is often limited by fragmented datasets, inconsistent definitions, and restricted data access. OPEN-MRH addresses these challenges by developing an open, secure, and interoperable research platform that enables large-scale analysis of clinically adjudicated MRH.

International data, shared standards

The project will harmonise and pool de-identified patient-level data from international studies into a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) dataset. Using secure infrastructure provided by SURF, the platform will support reproducible research while safeguarding patient privacy. In addition to shared metadata and documentation, synthetic datasets will be made openly available to promote transparency and reuse.

A key component of OPEN-MRH is the development of consensus-based definitions and a dedicated common data model for medication-related harm, created in collaboration with an international panel of experts. This will enable researchers to study not only how often harm occurs, but also its causes, severity and preventability.

Supporting responsible AI in healthcare

OPEN-MRH is designed with future data-driven and AI-based research in mind. By embedding guidance on data governance, transparency and regulatory compliance from the outset, the platform will help researchers and institutions navigate emerging European regulations on artificial intelligence in healthcare.

The project is led by Dr. Daniala Weir (Utrecht University), with Dr. Fatma Karapinar-Çarkit (Maastricht University Medical Centre) as co-applicant, and involves an international consortium of researchers, clinicians, and data scientists from Europe and North America.

With this grant, Utrecht University further strengthens its contribution to open science, patient safety research, and the development of sustainable, reusable research infrastructures that support better and safer use of medicines.