Leeds – Data Analytics & Society

Introducing our fourth student cohort

15th January 2021 by Hayley Irving

Hello! We are the fourth cohort of the CDT Data Analytics & Society program. Navigating our first semester on this integrated masters and PhD course has been a very different experience, but we have adapted successfully to online teaching. We have found it challenging as a cohort to connect, considering many of us have never even met in person!

Our first module was named Programming for Social Scientists with The University of Leeds. This was a two-week intensive module taught by Andy Turner who brought our group together, as well as equipping us with the necessary Python programming skills which our PhD projects will require. Even though this two-week intensive course tested our limits, we can all agree we gained valuable skills including introduction to Agent Based Modelling, creating our own website and learning how to use GitHub. We began our social research modules taught by our home universities – either Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool or Manchester. Since our undergraduate backgrounds varied from Mathematics to Psychology these modules introduced us to new ways of thinking, preparing us for undertaking our own research in the coming years.

We are excited to continue our journey of learning with the upcoming Data Science Studio module delivered by Dr. Daniel Arribas-Bel at The University of Liverpool. Although, sadly we cannot live and learn in Liverpool as many of us were expecting, we are still looking forward to supporting each other online.

We would also like to give a huge thank you to all the team members who have supported us and helped us to integrate into the Data Analytics & Society program. We are all looking forward to starting semester 2 in January!

Article by Cameron Ward (University of Liverpool) & Shivani Sickotra (University of Sheffield)

CDT students show excellence across the board in 2019 Partner Event

7th February 202021st October 2019 by Hayley Irving

The 3rd year student organisers of the second CDT partner event are happy to report on a successful day. The event was hosted again by the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) and while the essence of the day was similar to last year, this year saw the addition of mini masterclasses to the bill. The academic staff and student attendees from the four CDT institutions were again joined by representatives from partner organisations and got a glimpse of the work being undertaken by students.

Professor Mark Birkin, LIDA Director, opened proceedings with a short welcome speech before handing over to University of Liverpool’s Professor Alex Singleton who chaired the day’s first session of individual lightning talks by 3rd year students. These replaced last year’s group presentations and provided a 3 – 4-minute snapshot of the research conducted for master’s dissertations or first papers. These bite sized presentations highlighted the range of research areas and skills being used, from assessing the impact of the weather on high street retail to examining inequalities in cycling participation. Students took questions after their talks and thanks to Dr Mark Taylor from the University of Sheffield asking us for our take home message, we all now have an elevator pitch of our work.

This year’s poster session was taken on by the 2nd year students with feedback highlighting their excellent knowledge and enthusiasm for their work. Examples of work completed for core modules could be seen in posters detailing the use of web scraping and text analysis. (You can view the event posters here!) Again, the variety of topics and analysis methods on show highlights the diverse range of projects undertaken. There truly is something for everybody on the CDT.

The partner event was timed to coincide with the Introduction to Programming module, the first of the MSc, and we were joined at lunch by the new cohort of students. You hit the ground running with this module, particularly if you’re new to coding, so this year’s lunch was extended to include a Q&A session hosted by Dr Eleri Pound (Centre Manager) to cover any questions or queries the new students had. A range of questions were submitted and 2nd and 3rd year students were able to pass on words of advice, encouragement and to hopefully alleviate any concerns.

The day’s final session was the mini masterclass. There was the option to sign up to one of three masterclasses; academic publishing, networking or public engagement. Feedback shows that attendees of each of the classes found them helpful and informative. The event overall was enjoyed by everybody, with comments showing that people found it interesting and engaging. Remember to follow our twitter page, @DataCDT, to stay in touch with CDT students as we continue to work at the cutting edge of our subject areas.

Written by Melanie Green, Noelynn Onah & Rhiannon Thomas.

Leeds students showcase Smart Cities at Be Curious event

4th April 2019 by Eleri Pound

Be Curious is an annual public engagement event held by the University of Leeds, to showcase the breadth of research at the University, through a variety of free activities for children and their families to enjoy. With this year’s theme, ‘Brighter Futures’ firmly in our minds, the first cohort of Leeds CDT students put our heads together to come up with an exciting concept for the LIDA stand, to represent our PhD research.

With more and more of us living in cities across the world, we themed our activities around the contribution of data to improving our daily lives and the environment we live in. And so, with the help of some wonderful designers, our smart cities play mat came to life!

On Saturday 30 March, Parkinson Court bustled with curious minds, keen to enjoy the feast of activities on display by research groups from across the University.

At the LIDA stand, children had a great time playing with toy cars as they explored the smart cities play mat; matching cards to the symbols on the mat to find all the different data sources around the city and learning how they could contribute towards building brighter futures. From hospitals to supermarkets, fitness trackers and public transport, we generate huge amounts of data every day. The smart cities concept gave us an opportunity to discuss how, when used responsibly, data can provide insights which could lead to improvements in health, public safety, diet and physical activity, efficiency of services, and so much more! It was really interesting to engage with people on the topic of ethical data usage and to understand their concerns, which we will carry forwards in our research conduct. We also gathered opinions via LIDA’s LifeInfo Survey, which explores attitudes towards the possible linkage of behavioural data with individual health records in the future.

As well as learning lots of fun data facts, members of the public also had the opportunity to contribute to some data visualisations. A sticker map showing transport modes and distance travelled to attend Be Curious was simple but effective, quickly revealing a pattern of car use among those living further from the University. While anonymous contributions to an interactive word cloud revealed that the benefits of data to society came across most strongly for health.

With our research spanning urban footfall, geodemographics, physical activity, online retail and diet, it was a challenge to pull such a diverse portfolio of projects together into a single concept. But the smart cities idea proved to be a great success and sparked a lot of interesting conversations at what was, for many of us, our first public engagement event.