By applying the latest in data science with the help of a Data Scientist the Breast Cancer, Environment and Employment Study (BCEES) has established a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). The VRE will serve to capture and store all research data generated throughout the life cycle of the research study.

All research data refers to three categories of data: 1. Analysis data; 2 Administration data; and 3. Meta data. Analysis data refers to the data that is created and stored for analysis purposes. Administration data refers to the data created in the process of performing the study. Meta data refers to the data created for the purpose of describing items and groups of items.

The VRE allows the automatic capture of the Administration and Meta data. As the scientists are performing the day to day tasks that are involved in successfully executing the study the are generating meta data that provides valuable information about the purpose and goals of the data. This is only made possible by having all research and collaboration tools running within the VRE. For example, as researchers collaborate and discuss study design methods using the content management system running within the VRE they are creating valuable meta data about options they discussed and decisions made. within the VRE the full history of documentation and progress of the study is stored within the versions automatically generated by the tools running within the VRE. The VRE converts the static snap-shot of publication and data-set that usually is the only output of similar research studies into a full documentary of the life of the study.

The VRE itself provides benefits in archiving and preservation issues being a self containing entity of knowledge that can be archived into one file. The VRE file can sit dormant until needed and is simply activated on demand to open up a knowledge store containing all the tools and meta data required to perform further research or validation of results.

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