About us
The Centre for Victorian Data Linkage (CVDL) is the Victorian state node of the
Population Health Research Network (PHRN). Based in the Department of Health and Human Services, its main function is to create and maintain linkages within and between Victorian government, health and non-health administrative data collections, and extend the capability for building a nationwide data linkage infrastructure.
CVDL aims to:
- provide trusted population-wide linkable data to researchers and policymakers to support evidence-based insights to improve planning and service delivery, while adhering to Victorian privacy principles
- develop new data linkage capacity in Victoria
- facilitate and create opportunities for Victorian researchers to undertake innovative, world-class research using linkable data drawn from existing datasets.
Over time, CVDL has developed and maintained collaborative relationships with a wide range of stakeholders within the research community and across government departments, which has facilitated the progressive growth of the Victorian Linkage Map (VLM).
CVDL provides a proficient free-of-charge data linkage service to a wide range of data users, allowing policymakers and approved researchers to securely access diverse de-identified datasets. Its operating model is governed by a number of Acts and Regulations such as, the Victorian Health Records Acts 2001, the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, Health Privacy Principles (HPP) and the Information Privacy Principles (IPP) from respective Acts.