I am a social scientist interested in a various aspects of data ethics and governance. My work focuses in particular on how existing biomedical data (e.g. cohort study data; personal medical records) is accessed and used for secondary research. I am part of a team that seeks to understand the transdisciplinary contexts in which the large data infrastructure necessary for such research is developed. We also investigate methods of public engagement to evidence how different communities feel about use of their health data.

Current examples of our work include EUCAN-Connect, METADAC and Connected Health Cities in the North East and North Cumbria, where we have been working on the Great North Care Record.

I joined PEALS in 2017, having transferred from the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol. My background in Canada is originally in anthropology, after which I trained and worked as a librarian and information manager for many years before completing a PhD in health informatics in 2010 at the University of Sheffield.

• Shah T, Wilson L, Booth N, Butters O, McDonald J, Common K, Martin M, Minion J, Burton P, Murtagh M. Information-sharing in health and social care: Lessons from a socio-technical initiative. Public Money and Management 2019, Epub ahead of print.
• Simell BA, Tornwall OM, Hamalainen I, Wichmann H-E, Anton G, Brennan P, Bouvard L, Slimani N, Moskal A, Gunter M, Zatloukal K, Minion JT, Soini S, Mayrhofer MT, Murtagh MJ, van Ommen G-J, Johansson M, Perola M. Transnational access to large prospective cohorts in Europe: Current trends and unmet needs. New Biotechnology 2019, 49, 98-103.
• Murtagh MJ, Blell MT, Butters OW, Cowley L, Dove ES, Goodman A, Griggs RL, Hall A, Hallowell N, Kumari M, Mangino M, Maughan B, Mills MC, Minion JT, Murphy T, Prior G, Suderman M, Ring SM, Rogers NT, Roberts SJ, Van der Straeten C, Viney W, Wiltshire D, Wong A, Walker N, Burton PR. Better governance, better access: practising responsible data sharing in the METADAC governance infrastructure. Human Genomics 2018, 12, 24.
• Minion JT, Butcher F, Timpson N, Murtagh MJ. The ethics conundrum in Recall by Genotype (RbG) research: Perspectives from birth cohort participants. PLoS ONE 2018, 13(8), e0202502.
• Wilson RC, Butters OW, Clark T, Minion J, Turner A, Murtagh MJ. Digital Methodology to implement the ECOUTER engagement process. F1000Research 2017, 5, 1307.
• Murtagh MJ, Minion JT, Turner A, Wilson RC, Blell M, Ochieng C, Murtagh B, Roberts S, Butters OW, Burton PR. The ECOUTER methodology for stakeholder engagement in translational research. BMC Medical Ethics 2017, 18(1), 24.
• Murtagh MJ, Turner A, Minion JT, Fay M, Burton PR. International Data Sharing in Practice: New Technologies Meet Old Governance. Biopreservation and Biobanking 2016, 14(3), 231-240.
• Gaye A, Marcon Y, Isaeva J, Laflamme P, Turner A, Jones EM, Minion J, Boyd AW, Newby CJ, Nuotio M, Wilson R, Butters O, Murtagh B, Demir I, Doiron D, Giepmans L, Wallace SE, Budin-ljosne I, Oliver schmidt C, Boffetta P, Boniol M, Bota M, Carter KW, Deklerk N, Dibben C, Francis RW, Hiekkalinna T, Hveem K, Kvaloy K, Millar S, Perry IJ, Peters A, Phillips CM, Popham F, Raab G, Reischl E, Sheehan N, Waldenberger M, Perola M, Van den heuvel E, Macleod J, Knoppers BM, Stolk RP, Fortier I, Harris JR, Woffenbuttel BHR, Murtagh MJ, Ferretti V, Burton PR. DataSHIELD: Taking the analysis to the data, not the data to the analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology 2014, 43(6), 1929-1944.