Synthetic Data Community of Practice (SynD)

About SynD

Synthetic data opens the top of the funnel for health data research, education and innovation. It streamlines and grows access to realistic health data while minimising confidentiality risk.

SynD unites diverse stakeholders to foster knowledge sharing, skill development, and the exchange of ideas to drive digital health solutions through synthetic data best practice.

Join us as a member or collaborator

We encourage you to collaborate with us and be part of an initiative that will lay the groundwork for safe and effective use of synthetic data to improve health outcomes for all Australians. If you are interested in being involved, please express your interest via our Membership Nomination or Collaborator forms. If you have other enquiries, please email education@dhcrc.com.

Vision, mission and purpose

To unlock the value of health information through the use of synthetic data to advance research, education and innovation within the health and care sector.

Develop a synthetic data coordinated program of work and national collaborative approach to facilitate evidence and knowledge exchange for:

• Advocacy, education and training
• Governance process and standards
• Technical solutions
• Knowledge sharing
• Developing use cases

SynD initiatives

As an early-stage community, we have started with a core membership with strong alignment to our mission and a desire to contribute to initiatives.

Together with stakeholders from every Australian state and territory health service, we have developed a Synthetic Health Data Governance Framework (SHDGF) and Data Sharing Agreement Template (DSAT) as practical tools to support safe and lawful synthetic data use. Click the buttons below to access the online interactive version of the SHDGF and download the DSAT.

Synthetic data masterclass series June 2026

More information and registration

Projects in delivery

Critical infrastructure for training and innovation with synthetic health data

Internship projects

Evaluating quality of synthetic data for training a deterioration prediction AI

Generative AI for safe data-driven innovation

Exploring use cases for synthetic data in health

Current initiatives include:

• Developing standards and guidelines that provide a framework for safe and effective Australian synthetic health data.
  >> Watch our 15-minute presentation delivered at the 6th Australia and NZ HREC Conference on 25-27 November 2025: New horizons: A draft governance framework for synthetic health data in Australia. View the recording.
• Implementing a rigorous, open-source evaluation suite for quantifying privacy, fidelity and utility of synthetic data.
• Fostering innovation for improved health outcomes through knowledge sharing, advocacy, education, and training.

Publications and articles

Australia risks falling behind in the synthetic health data race

Bringing patients along for the health data ride

Blog: Fake patients, aged care action and plan fatigue

Synthetic data: filling a gap

HIC 2024: Fake patients and real outcomes with synthetic health data

Synthetic data, common data models and federation: holy trinity or unholy mess?

Designing a utility evaluation framework for synthetic health data

SynD: Australian synthetic health data community of practice

Navigating synthetic data: developing a utility evaluation framework

Australia risks falling behind in the synthetic health data race

SynD governance and membership

SynD is initially under the auspice of the Digital Health CRC, fostering a collaborative approach to share knowledge across partners from services, government and universities actively working on synthetic data.

Terms of reference

Founding member organisations are:

• Digital Health CRC
• Western Australia Department of Health
• The University of Queensland
• The University of Sydney
• La Trobe University
• Northern Territory Government | NT Health

Chair

Professor James Boyd

Chair of Digital Health and Innovation, La Trobe University

Community members

The community is comprised of a diverse group of committed individuals with a shared vision for the potential of Synthetic Data, coupled with valuable real-world knowledge and experience from within the health system.