Blogs & News
DRE Feature Review – Q1 2026
As we close out the first quarter of 2026, it’s good to consolidate all the great features that have been released across the DRE over the last few months. We release every two weeks, with a combination of security updated, bug fixes and new features. The follow are some of the main features that we’ve released and our customers are already taking advantage of.
In Workspaces we have added:
1. AIRA
AIRA (AI Research Assistant) continues to develop, with our focus on cost efficiencies, model management and providing the hooks and APIs required to allow administrators to provide access to rich AI enabled applications and experiences within the workspace without compromising on security and governance. As always, no inferences, prompts or data leaves the scope of the DRE. No external services are used. The platform owner remains in complete control.
As examples of AI enabled applications, workspaces now support integrated Biomni, Claude Code and full code completion in VSCode.
2. Timebound Restrictions
Data usage agreements often have time restrictions associated with them, where the project team have access to the data for a fixed period of time. Timebound restrictions allow administrators to restrict access to a workspace for a selected period of time. Like all data use conditions and restrictions, workspace members must accept these restrictions and these acceptances are audited, maintaining an immutable digital record. Upon expiry, users are ‘locked out’ of their workspace. No workspaces are deleted, no data is deleted, however, access is no longer possible. Administrators can update and provide extended access in a governed manner. Read more about timebound restrictions for administrators here, and users here.
3. JupyterLab
The Workspaces 4.x framework allows us to quickly add apps that would previously have been more challenging. Running apps within iFrames means that application code needs to be changed to prevent exfiltration. Now that Workspaces supports video streaming of applications to prevent ‘copy out’ and ‘save to desktops’, more apps can be deployed by Aridhia and our customers. One of the first of these is JupyterLab. We will continue to make a library of apps available including VSCode, Marimo, Claude Code, Biomni, Airlock Checker and more.
In FAIR we have recently introduced:
1. Support for Common Data Models
Common Data Models (CDM) are vitally important to support cross data set cohorts, multi-data set research and analysis, and crucial to effective federated analytics and learning. FAIR now has specific out of the box support for OMOP and SDTM datasets, with dedicated dictionary validation and metadata support, and allowing researchers to search and filter by CDM. Additionally, where organisations have their own internal metadata models, or use a modified version of an existing standard, we are introducing the ability for hub owners to create and manage their own custom models, including validation.
2. Geo Locked datasets
Building on the data use conditions framework, datasets can now be locked to a specific geographic region. Datasets configured in this way cannot be made available to workspaces outside the allowed regions. For example, users with workspaces in a US region can be prohibited from completing a Data Access Request (DAR) for a dataset that is Geo Locked to the EU.
3. File Transfers
Data owners have always been able to add attachments to datasets, which can be downloaded by users directly to their desktop from FAIR, however, there is now significantly increased capability in this area. Data owners can now manage the visibility and transferability of each attachment. Allowing them to decide if attachments should be available for direct download, recommended for transfer as part of a DAR, or mandatorily transferred as part of a DAR. We will shortly be introducing folder support, allowing data owners to attach folders of files directly to a dataset, and researchers to request and transfer the full folder structure to a workspace.
Future Updates
We continue to provide exciting new capabilities to our users on a regular basis, with twice monthly releases ensure the Aridhia DRE remains the most powerful, flexible and scalable AI enabled Trusted Research Environment available.