Showcase is the public portal for the UK Biobank repository. The purpose of Showcase is to allow accredited researchers to investigate the types of information held in the secure central repository so that (a) if it is relevant to their work, and (b) their work is agreed to be of benefit to health research according to the Criteria of UK Biobank, they can make a formal Application for Access to the anonymised data.
Data is divided up into a large number of data-fields which each represent a single type of measurement/observation from as many UK Biobank participants as it was practical to collect. The main page of the Showcase allows users to learn about the contents by navigating in several different ways:
- Searching the database to identify information containing particular pieces of text (the full search available in the upper menu bar gives access to additional properties for more expert users).
- Browsing a constructed hierarchy in which all information has been classified according to its origin or nature.
- Viewing catalogue listings of the database contents.
More detailed help regarding the properties and functionality of the pages/screens within the Showcase is accessible via the context-sensitive Help button in the upper menu bar when the particular page is being viewed.
Additional help and information regarding the data and it's usage can be obtained from the UK Biobank community forums.
Please note that the Showcase contains only anonymous summary information. All actual data is held separately on secure servers.