Tricia Govindasamy is an award-winning South African scientist specialising in data. She joined The Data Lab Community when she moved from Africa to the UK to undertake her MSc in Data Science for Politics and Policymaking at the University of Strathclyde. We spoke to Tricia about the value of The Data Lab Community, which recently helped her secure a job as an Information Analyst at Public Health Scotland.
The Challenge
Tricia had been working for over eight years in civic technology across Africa, managing cross-border data journalism and open data projects. She decided to further develop her skills in data science by pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Strathclyde in Data Science for Politics and Policymaking, making the move from South Africa to Scotland.
Whilst exploring the course information, Tricia discovered the support available through The Data Lab – including The Data Lab Community.
She wanted to have a community of professionals to engage with people just as passionate about data as she is.
The Solution
To complement her university studies, Tricia joined The Data Lab Community ahead of moving to Scotland. She decided to join to get involved in the Scottish data space and to use it as an opportunity to network with people passionate about data in the UK.
Tricia introduced herself on the platform and attended one of the monthly introductory sessions welcoming new members to The Data Lab Community. She valued learning more about the Community activities and interacting with new people straight away.
As a specialist in data visualisation, Tricia was invited to speak at a Community meetup for Women in Data and AI. Within the first week of landing in Scotland, she presented at the event, meeting several new people—and even some she’d met at conferences around the world! Tricia was overwhelmed by the support in the room and the number of people asking for advice beyond data viz.
“Community building and women supporting women is not just about [data skills] but the soft skills as well”.
Following the success of the Community event, Tricia went on to host a panel at The Data Lab’s conference Data Summit 2023 and judge The Data Lab Community’s international data visualisation competition.
As well as gaining more speaking experience and connecting with data and AI professionals, becoming part of The Data Lab Community has given Tricia the connections she needs to develop professionally and support others to do the same.
“People have been really helpful, and the knowledge and networking have exceeded my expectations. I have been able to make connections that I wouldn’t ordinarily have access to.”
The Outcome
Since joining and engaging with The Data Lab Community over the past year, Tricia applied for two jobs on the community job board and secured a permanent role as an Information Analyst with The Data Lab’s partner Public Health Scotland.
The Data Lab MSc alum and Community member Fash Fasoro from DataKirk coached Tricia to help her prepare for the job interviews. Since connecting with DataKirk at the Data Summit conference, Tricia has gone on to join the DataKirk community, mentoring members of disadvantaged groups in the data economy.
The Data Lab Community also supported Tricia’s academic pursuits, helping her narrow down a dissertation area after attending a Community event on Geospatial data. Through its Introductions group, she also found a data source for the dissertation from Transport Scotland.
Tricia continues to widen her data expertise in topics such as the environment and health, passionate about how data can be used to do good. She’s currently working on her dissertation with Transport Scotland to use a geographic information system (GIS) for the Glasgow Low Emission Zone, which will help decision-makers and promote wider societal good.
“It’s not just benefiting me as an individual helping me with my dissertation, but overall, The Data Lab has formed this connection where my dissertation and GIS can be of actual use to the government.
“With my dissertation on Glasgow’s Low-Emission Zone, I hope to use big data and advanced mapping skills to analyse the policy’s impact on transport behaviour and associated emissions, which will contribute to the understanding of urban environmental policies and their influence on achieving Net Zero.”