• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
The Data Lab

The Data Lab

  • Business Support
        • Business Support

          We’ll help you harness the power of data so you can innovate and grow your business.

          Visit our Business Support page

        • Accessing Talent
          • Data Talent
          • Placements
        • Funding
        • Small Business Support
        • Digital Strategy
        • Academic Project Funding
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Professional Development
        • Professional Development

          We’ll help you harness the power of data so you can innovate at work and also advance your career.

          Visit our Professional Development page

        • Workshops
        • Online Courses
        • Data Skills for Work Programme
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Students
        • Students

          We’ll help you learn about the power of data and gain real-world experience and career-focused qualifications.

          Visit our Students page

        • The Data Lab Academy
        • PhD
        • TDL Academy Placements
        • Scholarships
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Partner With Us
        • Partner With Us

          We work in partnership with companies to help them gain maximum benefit from the strategic use of data.

          Visit our Partner With Us page

        • Collaborate With Specialists
        • Partnership Opportunities
  • About Us
        • About Us

          We discover opportunities, connect people and ideas, develop knowledge and expertise and bring game-changing data projects to fruition.

          About Us

        • Our Team
        • Careers With Us
        • Join our board
        • Academic Opportunities
        • The Data Lab Community
        • Case Studies
        • News & Podcasts
        • DataFest
        • Scottish AI Alliance
        • Contact us

Nicola Curran Data Champion Profile

Case Studies, TORCH 20/04/2022

Nicola Curran is the Head of Commercial Revenue at ScotRail, Scotland’s national train company.

She is responsible for a team of 8, covering a number of ScotRail’s core functions. These include, pricing, product development, customer insight, passenger demand reporting, and revenue forecasting. The recovery following the pandemic, combined with the move over to the public sector, has made each of these functions more important than ever.

Nicola’s journey with data

Nicola has been actively involved with a number of The Data Lab’s programmes, starting her journey with our ‘Introduction to Data for Business Leaders’ course. These sessions explore data at an introductory level for decision makers, built to help identify opportunities and justify investment.

Following the course, Nicola approached The Data Lab’s Data Science team to propose a project designed to help ScotRail better understand their passenger numbers post-pandemic. The collaboration was so successful that her work received national recognition, and she was encouraged to take her work a step further with TDL’s TORCH team, with a project aiming to help ScotRail become more self-sufficient in data and analytics.

Nicola is now working with The Data Lab’s MSc Placement programme to secure a student who will help them implement the next phase of ScotRail’s data project. She is also expanding her team over the coming months to introduce two new roles that will allow for additional focus on scoping, creating and delivering a successful commercial data strategy.

Data learns from Nicola Curran

  • People, process, data, and technology all need considered for the successful delivery of any data related project.
  • Collaboration and buy-in across the business is essential to drive forward change. With regard to implementing a data strategy, it cannot be the sole responsibility of one team.
  • It will take time embed new ways of working … perseverance is key!
  • There are very rarely complete, clean datasets on which to work with so don’t be put off if you don’t have all the information you need, you will likely still have enough to find some answers- which can be refined and developed further over time.

We asked Nicola about her thoughts around current and future demand for data skills, alongside her thinking around the potential for upskilling and retraining to address data skills gaps in the workforce

“We are currently recruiting for 2 new data roles within the team, and so I’m aware of the ever-growing demand for the skills these roles require. ScotRail are really starting out on the data journey, so there is a desire to bring in some experienced people to help support the development in areas such as Machine Learning and Coding.

There are, on the other hand, some very talented employees with ScotRail that are keen to develop in this area and so it’s important to get the right balance of upskilling existing employees, whilst providing support from others with experience of delivering more advanced data-driven projects.

ScotRail is dedicated to upskilling the current workforce, offering opportunities to complete part-time degrees and shorter online courses in data analysis – something which a number of employees are working on at the moment.”

Other Links

Case Study: How TORCH helped ScotRail to become more self-sufficient in data and analytics
Connect: Follow Nicola on LinkedIn

More Data Champion profiles

If you liked this profile, you might also like our other data champion bios with Spirit Spyder’s Co-Founder Vicky Dewar, and Pete Duncan, Business Analyst for Edinburgh First.

Innovate • Support • Grow • Respect

Get in touch

t: +44 (0) 131 651 4905

info@thedatalab.com

Follow us on social

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

The Data Lab is part of the University of Edinburgh, a charitable body registered in Scotland with registration number SC005336.

  • Website Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 2023 The Data Lab

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsReject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_DPXX4XJSJ82 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_gtag_UA_54851888_11 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gat_UA-54851888-11 minuteA variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
personalization_id2 yearsTwitter sets this cookie to integrate and share features for social media and also store information about how the user uses the website, for tracking and targeting.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
cl-bypass-cache1 hourNo description
muc_ads2 yearsNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo