Data Advisory Group supporting Young Scot on our data journey
In partnership with the Data Lab, we’ve launched our new Data Advisory Group (DAG) – to support us to use our data to improve how we deliver products and services to Scotland’s young people.
Our new DAG is supporting us on our ‘data journey’. The group’s purpose is to help us create ideas for data projects; prioritise our data projects; give us technical advice and connect us to new network/partners.
We are thrilled that so many data professionals and young people with an interest in data were keen to volunteer their time to support us. Our new DAG members have a breadth of experience, diversity of thought, background, industry and geography. We are incredibly thankful for their support and are looking forward to working closely with them in the future.
Our new DAG members are:
Fraser Macdonald, Chair, is Programme Development Manager at the Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF. Based within The Data Lab, the Collaborative is an ambitious programme aimed at using data to improve the outcomes for children locally, nationally, and globally. Fraser has developed and led a broad portfolio of data and AI projects, bringing extensive knowledge in cross-sector engagement and multi-partner collaborations. He has worked with UK and international research communities, designing and delivering innovation initiatives across public, private, and third sectors. You can follow Fraser on Twitter.
Simon Roberts works for the Improvement Service. He has a range of experience working on geospatial data projects and initiatives in central government and is now responsible for engaging with local government around how they can improve the accessibility, quality and use of their data. He also sits on the Association for Geographic Information-Scotland Board and various cross-sectoral data groups. Here’s an interview that explains a little more about Simon’s background and his passion for geography.
Tristan Henderson is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of St Andrews and serves as the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance representative on the DAG. He has worked in the broad area of data and measurement for over two decades, involving large-scale network measurements, privacy and security, data archiving and data sharing. His current research interests revolve around data protection and data ethics and in particular how technology, ethics and the law can jointly regulate behaviour. As part of this he teaches a popular module at St Andrews named "Data Ethics & Privacy". You can follow Tristan on Twitter.
Dr Kevin Guyan is a researcher and writer whose work explores the intersection of data and identity. He is the author of the forthcoming book Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action, which examines the collection, analysis and use of data related to LGBTQ people in the UK. Kevin also works for an organisation that focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion among staff and students in higher education. You can follow Kevin on Twitter.
Ibrahim Naizam is an Accounting and Economics student at the University of Glasgow in his final year. He has worked on numerous Young Scot projects such as the LevelUp Initiative, helping to organise the Scottish Leadership Festival, and notably, the 5Rights Initiative. He was part of the 5Rights Commission when Young Scot first began the project and continued to be part of the group in its second phase as a 5Rights Youth Leader.
Mairéad Reid is an Electronics with Music student at the University of Glasgow. She was previously a member of the 5Rights Youth Leadership Group, an initiative that aims to enable young people to access the digital world creatively, knowledgeably, and fearlessly. As part of 5Rights, she worked to apply recommendations to improve the digital experience for young people in Scotland by delivering workshops, speaking at conferences such as the Scottish Learning Festival, and holding meetings with business leaders.
Emma Nylk is the founder of East Neuk Analytics, which supports headteachers to improve their data literacy through training and bespoke tools for their schools. She is passionate about supporting teachers to improve their confidence in their data led decision-making, thereby giving them more time to spend with the children and young people in their school. You can follow East Neuk Analytics on Twitter.
Tash Ayton is a data consultant primarily focusing on the public sector and policing clients. She has a wide experience across data strategy and analytics and is an advocate for transparency and ethics in the use of data. Tash is also passionate about young people and often acts as a mentor for both school and university students.
Kenneth MacKinnon has over 10 years of experience as an Enterprise Data Architect across a number of financial services organisations formulating business and technical strategies and providing advice to senior stakeholders. He also has experience with parent councils, previously chairing 2 parent councils in the Falkirk area and currently volunteering as Vice Chair of Falkirk Area Parent Forum. He is also the Falkirk area representative to the National Parent Forum of Scotland. You can follow Kenneth on Twitter.
Dev Kornish is currently a member of the Young Digital Champions sub-group of the 5Rights Young Leadership Group.
Bethany Wilson is currently a member of the Innovative Tech sub-group of the 5Rights Young Leadership Group.