
Marian joined The Data Lab in 2018 and has been a key part of the team ever since, playing a central role in the growth of The Data Lab Academy. As we approach our tenth anniversary, she’s taking a moment to look back on the past seven years – sharing her experiences, highlights, and the progress we’ve made together. From her first day in our old office to helping shape the programme we run today, Marian’s journey is packed with inspiring stories. We’re delighted to share her reflections in our latest guest blog!
Switching on my computer on my first day back at my desk in 2025, I am reminded by some lovely LinkedIn notifications that this week marks my seven-year work anniversary with The Data lab. That takes me back and so I am reflecting on what these seven years mean to me, both professionally and personally, as The Data Lab continues its journey towards its tenth anniversary.
Day One to 20 March 2020
My first day in 2018 was rather like the first day back after the Christmas holidays in 2025 – cold, dark and icy. Back then, The Data Lab worked out of 21 South College Street, also cold and dark, so the end of the day found me in M&S purchasing thermals and a hot water bottle. However, those first few working days were far from gloomy as I was welcomed into The Data Lab and started to meet the students we support on our The Data Lab Academy programme.
The programme, now in its ninth year (funded by The Scottish Funding Council throughout and The European Social Fund – Developing Scotland’s Workforce from 2016-2021) provides students with a full-fee scholarship and membership of our employability boosting networking and cohort building programme. Collaboration and innovation are at the core, and it felt amazing to be a connecting link between academia, industry and students. It took a while to get to grips with the logistics, and the best bit was seeing how we supported our students through their challenging masters studies. The highlight of that first year was the buzz and adrenaline of one of the key events of the programme, Innovation Week, which took place in Glasgow’s Whisky Bond. Students knuckled down to interrogate real-world problems presented by a range of Scottish-based organisations including SUSTRANS, PHS and RBS. It was amazing to watch students transform from a room of individuals into teams and communities. I learnt so much from my first cohort and remain in contact with many of them, as well as alumni from subsequent years, who continue to support The Data Lab Academy to this day.
We moved to the Bayes Centre, hot water bottle no longer required.
Always expect the unexpected!
Academic year 2019/20 was my first year of managing the programme from launch to close and I was just getting into my flow when The Data Lab moved to virtual working in March 2020 when the Covid pandemic took hold. That was daunting, but The Data Lab made sure we were supported and there was an incredible sense of camaraderie and purpose as we transitioned our working practices. It took a while (thanks to some incredibly supportive students who gave me online live IT support – you know who you are!) and we flexed to online delivery of the programme. It was humbling to witness student life through a box on a screen, especially in the second lockdown when many of our students were working, sleeping, eating and studying in small university bedrooms. This felt raw especially as my daughter had moved to Glasgow University and was also trapped in a small room, suffering Covid and was not able to come home (top tip – never watch the film Contagion during a global pandemic). Everything we learned during that period has informed our current delivery pattern with a hybrid structure offering combined elements of online learning and in-person events and training that better suits our cohort of students based in universities across Scotland.
We had to pause our placement programme in spring 2020 but by 2021 our amazing industry partners across all sizes and types of Scottish businesses were fully onboard and able to support our placement programme with more than 80 remote placements. Our industrial placement helps students cement their technical skills and gain real world business experience whilst giving Scottish organisations access to state-of-the-art data science and AI skills. This programme has supported 500+ placements over the last ten years and is now open for 2024/25.
Collaboration, community and looking forward
Everything we do is firmly rooted in collaboration and partnership: 14 university partners, 500+ placement hosts, 13 partners, 1,000+ alumni. Beyond our direct relationships, we operate in a huge and growing data ecosystem, which includes the 6,000+ members of The Data Lab Community. To celebrate all that support in The Data Lab’s tenth anniversary year, during October-November, we joined forces with The Data Lab Community in a series of tenth anniversary meet-ups across Scotland. We met our cohort of 91 students and their course leaders; our The Data Lab partners; our alumni and a range of other data professionals as well as some amazing speakers. A very fitting celebration of all The Data Lab stands for.
Moving into the future, in The Data Lab Academy, we are spinning plates as we launch our programme for AY 25/26 and complete AY 24/25. We are constantly moving forward as the technological and economic environment in which we operate evolves and so no year is the same as the last. Still to come for our current cohort is Skills Month in collaboration with The Data Lab Community with a range of webinars on topics ranging from LLMs to technical careers in Law. Our students will participate in a workshop on AI and Ethics to be delivered by The Scottish AI Alliance and we are working up our Innovation Challenge for May 2025.
The Data Lab has been a great place to be for the last seven years, and I look forward to seeing what comes next!