Our Team
Meet the people at The Data Lab
Everyone at The Data Lab is passionate about helping Scotland’s businesses, academics and students get the most value from data.
In addition to our core teams, we have several advisory and governance boards.
Meet our people:
Leadership Team
Business Development Team
Data Science Team
Project Managers
Skills Team
Marketing Team
Operations and Finance Team
Business Advisors
Scottish AI Alliance
Governance Board
Innovation Advisory Board
Skills Advisory Board
Our Ambassadors
Leadership Team
Brian Hills
Chief Executive Officer
Brian is responsible for strategy, delivery and culture at The Data Lab, accountable to funding partners and The Data Lab Governance Board. A founding member of The Data Lab team, Brian has 25 years’ experience in analytics and software engineering, across domains including Telecoms, IT and Digital. During his 8 years at The Data Lab, Brian has been Head of Product, Head of Data Science and Deputy-CEO before moving to the CEO role in 2022. He has recently been recognised as a Top 5 Data Influencer in the UK, as part of the annual DataIQ top 100 people in data.
Manolo Perez
Director of Operations and Finance
Manolo is responsible for Legal, HR, IT, Project Management and Finance, closely working with our host’s teams and processes. Manolo is a qualified Chartered Accountant in Public Finance with over 25 years of experience in Finance and Operations senior roles in the University Sector. He joined The Data Lab in January 2015 having previously worked at various Schools within the University of Edinburgh.
Heather Thomson
Director of Skills and Talent
Heather is responsible for the delivery and evolution of The Data Lab’s skills and talent portfolio in Data and AI, working across an extensive network of universities, colleges and industry. Heather has over 15 years of experience in leading large-scale educational programmes in both the public and private sectors, with previous roles leading the establishment and delivery of training functions in global organisations and managing multi-disciplinary cross-institutional research training centres.
Mark Wilkinson
Director of Partnerships and Business Development
Mark is responsible for managing the funnel of innovation activity for The Data Lab from collaborative academic projects with industry to large-scale consortia. He is also responsible for external partnership activity from commercial relationships and income through to engagement with ecosystem partners. Mark has more than 25 years experience in the global data and analytics sector, he has managed business teams which include start-ups and established organisations.
Alison Orr
Director of Marketing and Communications
Alison is responsible for promoting and communicating the Data Lab through activities such as Public Relations, Public Affairs, case studies, digital campaigns and leads the delivery of DataFest and The Data Lab Community. Alison has over 18 years of experience in marketing and communications in both public and private sector roles. She has worked in various sectors including innovation centres, higher education and tourism.
Business Development Team
Adam Turner
Head of External Funding Services
Adam is an experienced Commercial Development professional who joins The Data Lab from IBM where he was a specialist in the Watson Cognitive Platform, providing support to organisations embarking on their Artificial Intelligence transformation projects. Drawing on his experience, Adam’s focus will be assisting organisations through their data-driven innovation projects.
Daniel Montgomery
Senior Partnerships Executive
Daniel is a professional relationship builder with over 10 years of experience across the Data Science, Innovation and Finance sectors. He is responsible for overseeing The Data Lab’s Partnership Programme, creating long-lasting strategic relationships, connecting people and organisations and ensuring our partners are able to maximise the opportunities that come with working with us. Daniel is passionate about Data Science and Innovation in Scotland and the impact for good that it can have on a national and global scale.
Darran Gardner
Business Development Executive
Darran is an innovation advisor and knowledge exchange professional with experience of working across the private and public sectors. A former business journalist and management consultant, he has over two decades experience of working in Scotland’s tech and business community. Managing The Data Lab’s Glasgow Hub he is responsible for our Collaborative Innovation Service, which supports industry collaboration and academia, as well our Moonshot fund focused on data-driven innovation in support of Scotland’s Net Zero ambitions
Sandra Ripley
Business Development Executive (Skills)
Sandra believes strongly in the power of a good data strategy and supporting skill set in driving business success. She is delighted to be part of the team at The Data Lab working with Scottish businesses to support growth of their data skill set. She has extensive cross-industry experience working in business development and marketing roles.
Pauline Graham
Business Development Executive (Highlands and Islands)
Pauline is an experienced innovation advisor who has worked for many years, enabling organisations to access university business and innovation support.
She promotes The Data Lab activities to organisations across the Highlands and Islands region. In previous roles, she has worked in various sectors including the oil industry, rail, food and drink, retail banking, hospitals and local government.
Max Baczynski
Business Development Officer (Skills)
Max joined The Data Lab in November 2021 to oversee the MSc Industrial Placements Programme and help connect businesses with emerging Data Science and AI talent. With over 6 years of experience in the tech education space, he previously worked for the coding bootcamp Makers and built partnerships with companies from Deloitte to Deliveroo. Max will build on this experience to help scope out suitable short data science projects for organisations across Scotland.
Data Science Team
Saleh Seyedzadeh
Principal Data Scientist – Smart Manufacturing Data Hub
Saleh is a Data Scientist with a wealth of experience working in academia, the public sector and industry across different sectors, from manufacturing to healthcare, both in the UK and internationally. He holds a PhD in Data Science in Built Environment from the University of Strathclyde. His research has been published in more than 60 high-impact research outputs and has been cited more than 1100 times. He works with multidisciplinary teams of researchers, engineers and data scientists to deliver cutting-edge digital and data science solutions.
Vyron Christodoulou
Data Scientist
Vyron is a Data Scientist with both academic and industry experience. He is interested in Machine Learning, Open Source Software, automation and Machine Learning and Operations (MLOps). He joined The Data Lab from the British Geological Survey (BGS), where he worked with multiple groups and types of data, applying software engineering practices and ML methods to make publicly accessible and reproducible research and science. He holds an MSc and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence where he worked with satellite data in anomaly detection and data drift.
Alfred Tiley
Data Scientist
Alfred is a Data Scientist with an accomplished background in astronomy academia and a variety of experience in the public sector, focused on transport and healthcare. He holds a PhD in astronomy from the University of Oxford and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Forrest Research Foundation, in Australia. Alfred joined The Data Lab from the New South Wales Ministry of Health where he applied data science and engineering techniques to maintain and develop a dynamic simulation model used to evaluate the system-wide benefits of State health initiatives.
Project Managers
Malcolm Price
Senior Project Manager
Malcolm started his career as a software engineer before moving into project management. He has over 20 years managing technology development projects in various sectors. Malcolm is a great believer in collaboration and the ‘power of together’ to bring success.
Laura Zoch
Project Manager
Laura is an efficient project manager experienced in building strong networks and working in international environments. She joins the Data Lab from the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) where she was responsible for the NTTF Skills Training for Life Sciences Programme. Laura believes in the power of data to inform innovative decision-making and drive success.
Skills Team
Anna Scott
Programme Manager – Professional Development
Anna has worked in the higher education sector for more than 15 years in external relations roles. Anna joins The Data Lab from the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science, where she led on programmes of activity designed to connect doctoral research with policy and practice, working with the Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland and others on the delivery of national industry-focused skills training initiatives.
Marian Dunbar
Skills Coordinator
Marian has more than 20 years of experience as a University Administrator working with students and academics in a variety of roles. She joins The Data Lab from the Cyber Academy, Edinburgh Napier University, where she supported a range of training, education and dissemination activities on cyber security.
Cheryl Stewart
Doctoral Programme Lead
Cheryl joined The Data Lab in 2016 and now leads the Doctoral Programme which includes Industrial Doctorates and PhD Placements. Previously she has worked for the University of Edinburgh for over 10 years primarily in an HR capacity.
Nuria Fraile-Diaz
Product Manager for the DDI Skills Gateway (Data Skills for Work)
Nuria has worked at the University of Edinburgh for the last 19 years and has vast experience managing projects across different schools, predominately related to Online Learning Environments. She is a learning designer and technologist and worked on the University of Edinburgh MOOC offer (part of the Educational Design and Engagement Team). She has experience with a wide range of VLEs and LMS.
Her specialisation focuses on creating online learning training products focusing on universal design for accessibility.
Hannah Gordon
Project Manager for Skills
Hannah has worked in the education sector for a number of years, starting out originally in the arts before joining the public sector. She joins The Data Lab from the British Council, where she got her first taste of working with data through monitoring and evaluating a multi-million-pound foreign aid schools programme. She is a qualified Project Manager with extensive events management experience and loves planning things in general.
Jacqueline Huynh
Skills Administrator
Jacqueline has ten years of experience teaching abroad (South Korea, Uruguay, Spain). She has a passion for learning and championing accessibility for marginalised groups. Her recent work within libraries and interest in coding has brought her to The Data Lab with ambitious goals. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting and pottery.
Sara Orr-Saiz
Placement Programme Coordinator
Sara joined The Data Lab in October 2021 to oversee the MSc Industrial Placements Programme and help students develop their knowledge and expertise and build their confidence. She joins us from Equate Scotland where for seven years she supported and promoted women in STEM in Scotland, through their Student Network and training and consultancy. Sara has a background in education and gender and has worked in the third sector in four countries for over 15 years.
Marketing Team
Gordon Johnstone
Head of DataFest
Gordon leads DataFest, Scotland’s showcase for data science and artificial intelligence on the international stage. He is a creative digital professional with demonstrable success working in the third and private sectors.
Isabella Melking
Communications Manager
Isabella oversees Communications and PR at The Data Lab. She is a communications and engagement professional with experience working in higher education and social enterprises, designing and implementing projects and activities to engage a variety of audiences.
Sarah Mackenzie
Digital Platforms and Content Lead
Sarah is an experienced digital marketing professional focusing on analytics and strategy development. She is an analytical content developer with in-depth knowledge of SEO and social media marketing. Sarah has a keen eye for identifying emerging trends and implementing strategies to expand content reach.
Alongside her work with TDL, she holds a freelance marketing role, providing solutions for some of Scotland’s key tourism and hospitality hosts.
Jane Blanchard
Brand and Campaign Manager
Jane is a highly ambitious and solutions-focused marketing professional with experience in the advertising, non-profit and creative industries. She joined The Data Lab from an award-winning integrated marketing agency, where she managed campaigns and branding projects for high-profile clients like the Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland. She is also the Director of FLOURISH Festival, a non-profit music and art festival that she founded in 2014. A frequent panellist in the creative industries, she has been responsible for the exponential growth of the festival and long-standing relationship-building with private and public stakeholders.
Steven Thomson
Events, Marketing and Community Officer
Steven oversees The Data Lab Community‘s events programme. He joins The Data Lab with a wealth of experience in organising and leading events – including Scotland’s most extensive data and AI careers event Data Talent in his previous role at FutureX.
Marta Monellini
Marketing and Communications Assistant
Marta is a very passionate and creative marketing professional, who oversees all social media channels at The Data Lab.
She is an ambitious content creator with experience in digital, international, and social media marketing. She joined The Data Lab from tech industry giant Apple and Apple Music services.
Operations and Finance Team
Moira Stewart
Finance Administrator
Moira has a wealth of experience in the area of finance. Her last role was as a Finance Officer in Chemistry at the University. Her main experience comes from being a Secondary School Bursar for 26 years in a large Edinburgh Community school, and she is keen to develop important links with schools about Data Science.
Samantha Penn
PA & Office Manager
Sam has extensive experience in higher education administration, having previously worked for QMU, the University of Edinburgh & Edinburgh Napier University, in various PA, finance, HR & secretarial roles. She has supported both senior central services and academic staff and also students at all levels & managed a variety of events including workshops, conferences & seminars.
Kristina Mutch
Solicitor
Kristina deals with drafting and negotiating contracts and providing legal advice in respect of all aspects of The Data Lab’s activities. Prior to joining The Data Lab, Kristina worked for a commercial law firm, providing specialist advice to a wide range of private, public and third-sector clients.
Amy Lippok
HR Coordinator
Amy is an HR professional with a strong background in Higher Education. Amy joined The Data Lab in 2021 from The University of Edinburgh after having worked with many HR Departments in various Schools and Colleges. Before joining The University of Edinburgh, Amy specialised in Compliance within the IT Recruitment sector.
Alex Baskhanov
IT & CRM Manager
Business Advisors
Craig Paterson
Executive Education Advisor
Craig has 25 years of industry experience working in Utilities and Financial Services and specialises in Business, IT and Digital strategy development and execution. Craig is developing Executive Education for The Data Lab.
Iain Henderson
Senior Solutions Architect
Iain is an experienced solutions architect with in-depth experience in data management and use. He has worked in Financial Services, Utilities, Retail and Data Services in both enterprises and start-ups. His particular focus and specialism are CRM, Analytics, Privacy Management and Data Empowerment from the individual/ customer perspective.
Margery McConnell
Senior Solutions Architect
Margery’s experience spans many roles, from global and UK businesses to a scaling-up FinTech. A passionate Data evangelist, she recognises that for every business, real transformation depends on effectively combining the potential of advanced technology with the capabilities and enthusiasm of individuals. She brings this approach to her work with clients in both the TORCH Programme and Executive Education at The Data Lab.
Scottish AI Alliance
Steph Wright
Head of the Scottish AI Alliance
Steph is a data science enthusiast with specific experience in the healthcare domain. She has a diverse background ranging from astrophysics to genomics in academia and film & TV to dance in the arts and the third sector. A project and programme management professional, she loves to develop and build collaborations across organisations to help people with their data/AI journey.
Steph led on Data Lab’s efforts in support of the Scottish Government in developing Scotland’s AI Strategy and she’s now excited to lead the delivery of the strategy’s vision for Scotland to be a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI. She is also a Co-Founder of Diverse AI.
Dawn Hunter
Project Manager
Dawn is a Project Manager with over a decade’s experience in managing a diverse range of digital, civic society, events and marketing projects. She is an accredited PRINCE2 Practitioner and APMG Agile Project Management Practitioner. Dawn holds an MSc with Distinction in Digital Marketing, where her research examined the effects of digitalisation of SMEs in Scotland. A lifelong AI enthusiast, Dawn believes that people should be at the centre of digital transformation and is an ardent believer in the power of AI for good.
Will Millership
Communications and Events Manager
Will is a communications professional with over 8 years of experience with a number of organisations across different industries. He spent 4 years in Prague where he worked as Communications Manager for artificial intelligence research and development company GoodAI and was the Director of the $5 million General AI Challenge. With a background in Human Geography, Will is particularly interested in the ways in which AI influences people, culture and society.
Katie Garden
Administrative Support Officer
Katie is an experienced administrator who joins us as The Scottish AI Alliance and Business Development team administrator. She graduated from The University of Arts London with a first-class BA in Costume Design for Theatre and Film.
Calum McDonald
Events and Engagement Officer
Calum is an engagement professional who has worked across education, accessibility, STEM and the arts. He enjoys producing events and coordinating programmes which centre on inclusivity, collaborative relationships and interdisciplinary learning. Calum is also a mentor in the Creative Informatics programme with Creative Edinburgh, and a member of their Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Steering Group
Governance Board
The overall responsibility for The Data Lab resides with the Governance Board made up of representatives of each of the stakeholder groups, and chaired by an independent industry leader.
The Board approves all significant funding applications, monitors progress, terminates projects where necessary and decides upon future strategic areas for investment. It is strongly weighted towards industrial representation.
Les Bayne
Chairperson
Former Accenture Scotland MD and founder of business growth platform Alba Arete
Previously managing director of Accenture’s Scottish operations, Bayne recently founded Alba Arete, an organisation focused on helping Scottish businesses grow, and Scotland reach its full potential.
Industry and Public Sector Members:
Shona Cowan
Service Manager for Workforce and Digital Services, NHS NSS
Ed Broussard, Private sector
Head of Accenture FS Applied Intelligence and CEO of Mudano (part of Accenture)
Dave Shaw, Private sector
Tesco Bank
Albert King, Public sector
Scottish Government
Grant Smith, Private sector
Consultant
Dr Helen Brown, Private sector
Non-Exec Director
Stephen O’Neill, Public sector
Head of Digital Economy and Data Driven Business, The Scottish Government
Academic Representatives:
Jane Hillston FRSE MAE
Head of School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
Professor Stuart Anderson
Director, SICSA
Scottish Enterprise, Highland and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Funding Council (observers):
Julia Mitchell
Senior Policy Analysis Officer, Scottish Funding Council
Theresa Swayne
Senior Development Manager, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE)
David Hartley, SE
Head of Digital Economy at Scottish Enterprise
Innovation Advisory Board
In addition to the Governance Board, there is the Innovation Advisory Board (IAB) consisting of data holders from both the public and private sector, solutions providers, problem holders and universities, with representation from each of the major sectors served.
Membership of the IAB is drawn from partner companies, public sector organisations and universities. As with the Governance Board, the IAB consists of representatives from organisations of all sizes ranging from start-ups and SMEs to much larger organisations from industry.
Grant Smith
Chair of Opportunity North East (ONE)
Marc Moens
Investor, Pentech Ventures
David Hartley
Scottish Enterprise
Peter Docherty
CTO, ThinkAnalytics
Mike Chantler
Professor of Computer Vision at Heriot-Watt University, SICSA Data Science Theme Lead
Roland Verhaaf
Data Protection Office & Interim CISO, Sainsburys Bank
Barbara Howarth
Marketing Manger, Barrachd Limited
Skills Advisory Board
The Skills Advisory Group reports to the Governance Board and is tasked with understanding the needs of local industry in terms of skills and education requirements.
The Group identifies and oversees the development of online courses, continuing professional development courses and other forms of teaching materials that can be used to educate local industry professionals and also be incorporated into courses that are delivered across the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) universities.
Chair – Shona Cowan
Service Manager for Workforce and Digital Services, NHS NSS
Simon Hewitt
Principal & CEO at Dundee and Angus College
Kate Farrell
Director of Curriculum Development & Professional Learning, University of Edinburgh
Neil MacLean
Partner, EY
Robert Murray
Head of Analytics, Scottish Water
Dr Andrei Petrovski
SGA Director, SICSA
Matthew Sharpe
Data Scientist, Spotify
Our Ambassadors
We have launched an Ambassador Programme designed to bolster Scotland’s data and AI community.
Our Ambassador Programme is designed to bring together some of the world’s brightest names in the data and AI community and harness their support for Scotland.
One of our strongest assets is our ever-expanding global network and our Ambassador Programme is an attempt to utilise that expansive network to its fullest potential.
Our Ambassadors will be tasked with a number of duties designed to boost Scotland’s data community in the years to come and will do what they can to promote The Data Lab. Through the programme, businesses will be given the opportunity to liaise directly with ambassadors to discover more information about the support that can be accessed via The Data Lab.
Meet our Ambassadors
Dr Jo Watts
Jo is the Founder and CEO of Effini, a data solutions company focused on supporting organisations of all sizes and sectors to become effective using data.
Jo is passionate about data literacy for all and has been developing training and learning materials to demystify data science and support the teaching of data science from school to executive level.
Jo has been actively involved with The Data Lab over a number of years most recently as a governance board member. As an ambassador she hopes to help widen the reach of The Data Lab even further.
Farouk Abdullah
Farouk is a digital and analytics business leader delivering organizational transformation in large companies in the UK, Europe and South East Asia. He is currently the pack leader of Natural Intelligence Solutions a data science consulting firm based in South East Asia.
Known as a radical thinker and a straight talker Farouk is obsessed with bringing real change to organizations that emphasises on exponential growth. He has worked with organizations in multiple industries implementing enterprise-wide digital transformation projects, advisory roles to C-Suite and establishing effective data and analytics teams that deliver real change to the organization.
Farouk’s passion for digital, data and analytics has driven his belief that data and analytics must be used for the good of society. He has spoken on numerous platforms globally to underline the importance of digital, data and analytics education for the next generation.
Chris Neumann
Chris Neumann is the Founder and CEO of Commonwealth Ventures, an organization devoted to narrowing the expertise gap between international startup ecosystems and Silicon Valley.
As a serial entrepreneur and early startup employee, Chris helped raise more than USD $70M across 4 startups, which collectively have been sold for more than USD $300M. After his last startup, DataHero, was acquired in 2015, Chris joined 500 Startups as a Venture Partner, where he designed and launched an accelerator program focused on big data, machine learning and AI startups. Through that program, he led investments in startups in the US, Canada, the UK, Russia, Italy, Israel, Belarus and Nigeria.
Chris is an active angel investor, board member, and advisor to startups in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK and an associate of the Creative Destruction Lab.
Jackie Doyle
Highly experienced senior manager / director with over 25 years’ experience in commercial and operational roles in the energy, technology, digital and telecommunications sectors. Areas of expertise include strategic planning, sales and marketing, project management and customer operations.
Jackie has been a founder, has worked in SMEs and in executive roles in corporate organisations. With experience across the public, private and third-sector, data and data driven innovation has underpinned many of the organisations he has worked in. Today Jackie is a Director with JLDMS providing consultancy services to companies and organisations in tech and energy sectors.
Michael Young
As CEO of MBN Solutions, Michael leads the strategic direction of the unique recruitment and people solutions organisation he founded 12 years ago. A serial collaborator and community builder, Michael is the driving force behind events such as Scotchain, Scotland Data Science & Technology and Blockchain Scotland Meet-Up Group.
In addition to establishing MBN as one of the UK’s leading Data focussed Talent businesses, Michael has acted as advisor and confidante to a number of start-ups, charities and third-sector organisations and has provided support to many government agencies seeking to understand the increasingly complex landscape of Data Talent Acquisition.
Laura Hepburn
I am a Data Analyst currently working at the Scottish Funding Council where I provide analytical insight and statistical evidence to feed into a number of further and higher education policy areas. Having undertaken a BSc in Biology at the University of Stirling, I then went on to study an MSc in Data Science for Business as part of the Datalab MSc programme. I was placed at SFC to complete my summer consultancy project and have been working in the analytical unit there since.
I’m particularly interested in data visualisation and telling stories with data… there’s nothing more satisfying than conveying analysis effectively to someone who claims to be “not a numbers person”!
The data community in Scotland is powerful, collaborative and exciting. However, I haven’t come across that many other young women in the industry so I’m very keen to set an example for others to look at and think “I could do that too… and I’m going to” because they can, and the industry needs them.
Dr Eyad Elyan
Dr. Elyan obtained his PhD from the University of Bradford in 2008. He is currently a Reader (Associate Professor) in Machine Learning at the School of Computing Science and Digital Media at Robert Gordon University and he is leading the Machine Learning and Vision Applications research group.
His research in the area of machine learning and machine vision is primarily focused on creating novel methods to represent and extract knowledge from unstructured and complex documents and images and structured data and applying it to solve industrial problems. He has attracted funds to support his research from different public funding bodies including Innovate UK, the Data Lab Innovation Centre, and Oil and Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC), Historic Environment Scotland and Others. Eyad is leading several projects with industrial partners across different domains including Oil and Gas, Construction, Sports Science, and Health.
Elyan is a Fellow member of the British Higher Education Academy. He served as a Program Committee member for several international conferences and as a reviewer for several international journals in the area of machine vision, machine learning and data analytics and he has published more than 50 articles in the area of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, Generative Adversarial Neural Network and Ensemble Learning.
Prof Ruth Falconer
Professor Ruth Falconer is a leading academic in the field of applied computer game technologies. She leads the Games Technology and Mathematics subject areas at Abertay University. Research interests include Systems Modelling and Data Science. With substantial academic contributions across games tech and other sectors, Prof Falconer is also known for research into the development of intuitive models of complex systems. She has published more than 55 peer reviewed articles, is an expert reviewer for European Commission and RCUK proposals, and has secured income for her research topics in excess of £1.5m.
An ambassador for female participation in the games industry, Prof Falconer was recently appointed an executive board member for Women in Games and named one of the 100 most influential women in the industry, based on work to support diversity in the educational pipeline. She is an Nvidia Deep Learning Institute (DLI) Certified Instructor and NVIDIA DLI University Ambassador.
Ian Watt
I am an Open Data advocate and occasional data scientist / data wrangler.
I have a background in Local Government where I put together digital and data teams, managed large digital projects, and led both the funding of, and the authority’s participation in EU-scale programmes. I was the project lead for open data for a programme involving all of Scotland’s seven cities. After leaving the public sector I completed an MSc in Data Science at RGU, sponsored by The Data Lab.
I currently lead for Civic Society on Commitment 3 (access to Info and Data) of for the Open Government Partnership plans for Scotland. I combine roles as charity trustee, having co-founded Code The City to tackle social issues using tech and data. I am also exec- and non-exec director to three companies / organisations. I created and co-hosted the first Scottish Open Data Unconference in Sept 2020, and have started to work with others to build the Open Data Scotland community.
In my spare time I am a trainer for Wiki Media UK and have a keen interest in the use of WikiData as a public repository for linked open data.
Speak to one of our support team to get in contact with The Data Lab staff.
Find out about our work helping Scotland’s businesses, academics and students leverage the power of data:
-
Scottish Canals: Regeneration of canals improves community health
Scottish Canals is the public corporation of the Scottish Government responsible for managing the country’s inland waterways and is determined to bring these once vital trade routes back to life. It has invested more than £84m in regenerating the Forth and Clyde Canals as part of its Millennium Link project. Funded by The Data Lab, […]
-
Driving Value from Data Case Study: NatureScot Supporting a Net-Zero Future
Biodiversity and nature play a key part in meeting climate change and net zero goals. NatureScot is Scotland’s nature agency responding to the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. They work to protect and restore nature by inspiring everyone to value our natural world. Philippa Vigano, Innovative Technologies Programme Manager, recently completed our […]
News about our work:
-
Scottish Labour leader sees pioneering AI solution for epilepsy diagnosis
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had the opportunity to view a pioneering AI software solution that could transform the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy during his visit to the William Quarriers Scottish Epilepsy Centre (WQSEC). The research was undertaken at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), thanks to funding from The Data Lab and the William Quarriers […]
-
New English partnership extends reach of The Data Lab
The Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre for AI and data science, has signed its first partnership agreement south of the Border. It will work with The Data Shed – a leading Leeds-based data engineering consultancy focused on delivering data transformation projects that reduce business risk and on understanding the potential of data. The partnership will […]
-
The data of Zelda and the future of the gaming industry
By Marta Monellini, Marketing and Communications Assistant From Hogwarts to Hyrule – the entertainment industry has a new king! Until last week Hogwarts Legacy held the crown for the biggest boxed video game release of 2023, despite active boycott pledges and controversy. However, on Friday, Nintendo released Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, bringing the crown […]
Sign up to our newsletter
The Data Lab Community enables data and AI professionals, academics, students and other enthusiasts to connect, collaborate and learn from each other.
Join our thousands of members for free today!
