Fig. 2

Applying the DataSHIELD principle in working with synthetic data from generative models. The standard DataSHIELD approach is depicted in panel a: The researcher sends a request via the DataSHIELD infrastructure (1). The sites then calculate aggregated statistics (2) and return them to the researcher (3). These statistics do not allow conclusions about individual patients, but can be used to derive useful information about the population (4). When working with generated models and synthetic data (panel b), the workflow is similar. The researcher requests the training of a generative model (1). Once the model has been trained on the server side with access to the individual-level data (2), synthetic samples can be generated (3). The researcher can use the synthetic data to conduct further analyses (4)