Professor Sir Rory Collins, Founder and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank, talks to us this week about the origins of this world-changing project that has catalysed a wave of new discoveries in large part by levelling playing field in data access. In this inspiring conversation Professor Sir Rory Collins describes the 'if you build it, they will come' attitude of the UKBiobank, and how he believes the biggest impact from the UKBiobank is still to come. The conversation finishes with details on their COVID-19 work, which has involved not just members from the original 500,000 strong UKBiobank cohort, but also family members of these participants.