Your Data

Find out more about how we safely use volunteers' data to support research into mental and physical health.

Generation Scotland combines responses to questionnaires of health and well-being from birth through life. We combine this with NHS health records and innovative laboratory science to understand health trajectories. We work closely with researchers and our volunteers to create a rich evidence base for understanding health. Through this rigorous, ethical and safe approach to research, we seek to enable meaningful change in public health.

Your Data

The information you provide us with, or allow us to access, is what we call ‘your data’. Your data includes:

  • Your saliva sample
  • Your baseline questionnaire answers
  • Access to your health records
  • Additional data may include: any other optional questionnaires you complete

Your saliva sample contains your DNA.

DNA sequences are important in health and disease, and so are vital to study for future disease prediction and treatments. The saliva sample you provide enables approved researchers to study our volunteers for this purpose. This may include Whole Genome Sequencing, where we read all 6 billion letters of your DNA.

Your DNA will become part of a broader picture that will mean we can look at which DNA sequences are important in health or disease. Research of this kind help researchers to develop treatments and cures.


When you join Generation Scotland, one thing we ask you agree to is data linkage. This means we can link your data anonymously to your NHS and GP records. This helps researchers understand the interactions between volunteer genetics and their health.

Learn more about how data linkage works in the video below.


You can visit our FAQs for more information on your data and how we protect it.


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