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Matthew Sydes

Professor Matthew (Matt) Sydes is Head of Data-Driven Clinical Trials at NHS England

Head of Data-Driven Clinical Trials

 

For nearly 30 years, Matt has designed, conducted, analysed, reported and communicated clinical trials, usually late-phase, often international and often defining a new standard-of-care for patients.

Matt started as a trial coordinator at the MRC Cancer Trials Office in Cambridge in 1995, later known at MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. After that, he re-trained to move into a statistical role.

Over time, Matt took an increasing focus on methodological research to improve the delivery of clinical trials, including: implementation into practice of novel designs, particularly multi-arm multi-stage (MAMS) platform / master protocols; running academic-led trials with a view to regulatory use and submission; proportionate and efficient monitoring of clinical trial; better clinical trial data sharing; communication of trial findings; and, critically, the potential to transform clinical trial planning and delivery through the use of routinely-collected healthcare systems data.

Matt has presented widely, taught on many courses and contributed to many funding panels. He joins NHS England from University College London (UCL) where he was a Professor of Clinical Trials and Methodology at MRC Clinical Trials Unit. He was also a research director for the Transforming Data for Trials programme at Health Data Research UK and Associated Director for Data-Enabled Trials at the BHF Data Science Centre.


Blogs

Professor Matthew (Matt) Sydes
By Matthew Sydes. 4 September 2026 Why linking data effectively is crucial for analysing clinical trial outcomes

Professor Matthew Sydes, Head of Data-Driven Clinical Trials and Cohorts at NHS England is co-author of new research, which finds that ensuring researchers can analyse data as though it were held in a single location is a key step to faster and more efficient clinical trials. He explains why it is important for the NHS Research Secure Data Environment Network to work towards the expansion of innovative techniques and technologies.
By Matthew Sydes. 20 May 2025 Clinical trials changing lives: one researcher's story

Professor Matt Sydes, Head of Data-Driven Clinical Trials at NHS England, describes how his personal and professional lives collided when a family member was affected by a rare cancer.
Gloved hands using a keyboard
By Matthew Sydes. 1 October 2024 Tracing NHS data back to the source

Professor Matt Sydes explains how we’re semi-automating the data provenance process to ease the admin burden on researchers and speed up clinical trials.