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The Standard Architecture for Trusted Research Environments (SATRE) is a specification designed to support the implementation and running trusted research environments (TREs), also known as secure data environments (SDEs). SATRE is helping to create a more consistent, transparent and trustworthy approach to working with sensitive data in Trusted Research Environments (TREs) across the UK. It brings together best practice from multiple institutions and sectors to provide an open framework that supports the design, operation and improvement of TREs, covering information governance, computing technology, data management and the wider capabilities needed to run secure research environments well. By creating a UK specification for TREs, SATRE aims to make it easier for operators, developers and researchers to work across environments with greater clarity, while also making TREs more understandable to data custodians and the public.

A major strength of the project is that it has been built as a genuinely community-led effort. The SATRE specification was informed by contributions from the wider UK TRE community, including builders, operators, information governance specialists and users, and it was strengthened through a programme of public involvement designed to ensure that transparency, oversight and trust were not treated as afterthoughts. That work helped shape a specification organised around four pillars, 29 capabilities and 160 statements, creating a practical resource that supports both established TREs and those still in development. SATRE v1.0 was released in October 2023 and is ongoing improvement through continued engagement with the wider community both within the UK and internationally. In v2.0, released in May 2026, SATRE has improved the language around the four existing pillars and has added a Federation Pillar with 23 new statements.

We encourage all TREs to evaluate themselves against the SATRE specification. Evaluation is a practical way to identify strengths, surface gaps, prioritise improvement and demonstrate a commitment to high-quality, trustworthy research with sensitive data to partners and stakeholders. It is not simply a checklist exercise. Established TREs have already used the specification in practice and are sharing their evaluations on this site. For organisations building, operating or commissioning TREs, evaluating against SATRE is a clear step towards stronger interoperability, greater public confidence and a more mature UK-wide ecosystem for secure data research.

Acknowledgements

The SATRE project was a collaboration between the University of Dundee, The Alan Turing Institute, UCL, Ulster University, Research Data Scotland and two public co-leads. It was funded by DARE UK as part of the Phase 1 Driver projects and within the Phase 2 TREvolution Transformational Programme.

We thank all the members of the public, TRE specialists, industry members, and researchers involved and continuing to be involved in making SATRE an important part of the secure data ecosystem.