Adopting Data Mesh principles to Boost Data Sharing for Clinical Trials

An effective clinical research requires the availability of relevant data and tools that make possible their efficient analysis. Among the several possibilities, data mesh, a distributed data architecture that is organized around specific domains and provides a self-service platform for accessing and using the data, is gaining the attention of the data and software engineering communities, mainly because of its ability to reduce the tension between the platform that manages the data and the teams that are in charge of managing them. Nevertheless, data mesh mainly focuses on how to manage data in a single organization by defining the sphere of responsibilities in the data management. Conversely, the continuous increase of data produced by hospitals calls for new approaches that enable the data sharing between clinical research centers.Goal of this paper is to extend the data mesh approach by considering the sharing of data among organizations which are members of a federation. Under the umbrella of a clinical trial which defines a temporary agreement among hospitals, a federated data mesh solution is designed to support the data management when data products from different organizations are considered. This implies the study on how the data ownership defined in the data mesh somehow becomes data sovereignty when data is shared with other organizations.