As part of our December guest blog series reflecting on the year, we’re delighted to share insights from Dawn Hunter, Programme Manager for the Scottish AI Alliance and valued member of The Data Lab team. From welcoming new team members and revamping key initiatives like the Scottish AI Playbook to collaborating across Scotland’s AI community, 2024 has been a whirlwind of progress, learning, and shared success. As Dawn looks to 2025, she’s braced for another rollercoaster year – filled with new challenges, exciting opportunities, and, hopefully, fewer broken bones!
As we come to the last few weeks of 2024, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on a year full of milestones, challenges, and opportunities for growth. As the Programme Manager for the Scottish AI Alliance, and team member of The Data Lab for close to three and a half wild, wacky and wonderful years, I can’t help but think of what an incredible journey we’ve all been on: this year, since the 2021 establishment of the Scottish AI Alliance, and for the last ten years that The Data Lab has been on the scene as Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI.
As I look back on this year, I’m so proud of everything we have achieved, the progress we’ve made, and the ways in which we’ve grown and developed. I can’t list everything single thing that’s happened at The Data Lab in these last 12 months (I’d have to write a book!) but here are a few of the key areas that I think have made 2024 extra special.
Building a Stronger (and Bigger!) Team
Our standout moment at the Scottish AI Alliance has got to be welcoming new members to our team, Maggie and Elena. Not only have they truly transformed the way we work with their expertise and perspective, they have also brought fresh energy, fun, dog pictures, and (finally!) another Glaswegian to the team.
We’ve been able to realise a bit more of the ambition that the Scottish AI Alliance team is known for, delivering our communications and projects to a higher quality and a bigger scale than ever before. It’s been a joy to see how they’ve both settled in, bringing their unique skills and personalities to the team and making our work all the better for it. Give it up for Maggie and Elena!
Celebrating Team Success
It has been so fulfilling this year to see the ways in which the team has come together to deliver some amazing outcomes. From Cal’s engagement and participation work positioning us as a go-to organisation providing a much needed voice for the people of Scotland in the world of AI, to Gordon and Elena’s expansion and diversification of our events programme, seeing our AI Summits on the road across Scotland, Maggie’s deft handling of redevelopment of the new, positively praised, Scottish AI Playbook, to Steph taking the Scottish AI Alliance onto the global stage (all the way to Tokyo), our team has been a constant reminder of how powerful collective effort, shared vision, trust, and ambition can be. The Scottish AI Alliance are always shooting for the moon, and I’m so happy to work alongside such passionate folk.
Revamping The Scottish AI Playbook
Speaking of delivering high quality programmes with greater ambition, 2024 also saw the redevelopment and relaunch of the Scottish AI Playbook. From humble beginnings as a wiki site for collating AI resources, the Scottish AI Playbook has been reborn as multifaceted programme to support Scottish businesses and organisations on their AI implementation journey with opportunities to connect, discover and innovate across Scotland’s AI landscape. It’s been a labour of love, involving close engagement with local businesses to understand their needs and design resources that genuinely work for them. The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive, and it’s so rewarding to see a marked improvement in how these resources are being used. It’s reinforced the value of listening to our stakeholders, and getting them involved in the development process, ensuring our work reflects their realities.
Excitement for Living with AI
Living with AI, the Scottish AI Alliance’s flagship public AI literacy programme, has been quietly undergoing a significant evolution this year. I am so excited to show everyone what’s coming in 2025, and the tremendous amount of hard work and dedication the team has poured into it. This year has seen us redevelop our existing course, utilise a new, more user-friendly platform, and treat everything to a fresh new look, feel, and identity, making this iteration of Living with AI our most engaging, accessible, and exciting offering yet. It has shown me just what is possible with the right team, both within the Scottish AI Alliance, as well as working collaboratively across The Data Lab.
Embracing Collaboration
Did someone mention collaboration? Another highlight of 2024 has been the chance to work more collaboratively with the wider team at The Data Lab, getting involved in more projects across skills, data science, and The Data Lab Community has been a great way to strengthen our bonds across the organisation, as well as making the most of every bit of expertise. My perspectives have been broadened by the collaborations we have forged, as well as allowing me to get a better view of all of the amazing work going on at The Data Lab.
Overcoming Challenges
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. On a personal level, I broke my ankle in May, which was a frustrating and physically draining experience that took months to recover from and threw barriers in the way to me collaborating with my team. If there’s a silver lining (which I always like to believe there is) it’s the reminder that I’m not invincible and that taking time to heal it totally okay.
2024 has been a non-stop rollercoaster of a year, and this blog has barely even scratched the surface! But, being part of the Scottish AI Alliance and The Data Lab, I wouldn’t have it any other day. I hope for more of the same in 2025: more collaboration, more successes for the team, more opportunities to grow, learn, and celebrate all that we do. Oh, but fewer broken bones in 2025 would also be great, yeah?