Counting cows in South Sudan
On World Statistics Day 2020, our ONS FCDO Data Science Hub talk about exploring the use of satellite imagery to conduct a cattle census in South Sudan.
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Getting the UK coding
This week is National Coding Week – an annual event that aims to inspire young people to code and build digital skills.
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The hard reality of being a learning organisation
We conducted a lessons learned exercise to help understand the challenges faced by our teams during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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Payments Data for Public Good
The latest update on our work with Barclays exploring if aggregated and anonymised card transactions data could provide significantly quicker, more granular insight into UK consumer spending.
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2021 Commonwealth Professional Fellowship programme
The Campus will develop and deliver the 2021 programme in partnership with several Office for National Statistics (ONS) teams and other government departments.
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Extracting, visualising and identifying emerging important terminology from patent collections
We introduce pyGrams – a new Python tool for extracting, visualising and identifying emerging terms in large document collections, such as patents.
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Bringing MDataGov online with the University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow will offer the MDataGov online in the 2020 to 2021 academic year and will also offer individual modules from the programme this summer.
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Inspiring the next generation of girls in data science
On International Day of Girls in ICT 2020, Harriet Sands talks about her journey into data science, what it’s like to work as a data scientist in government and how she would encourage a younger version of herself to get in to data science.
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Cardiff University joins the MDataGov Framework
We are pleased to announce Cardiff University as the latest provider to join the MDataGov Framework from October 2020.
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Supporting the response to coronavirus (COVID-19)
We are exploring new data sources such as Google’s Community Mobility Reports to strengthen the information that we have through surveys and other sources.
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Can machine learning be used to predict energy performance scores?
Our latest project investigates the use of machine learning techniques to predict missing energy performance scores. It also attempts to create a complete picture of the energy efficiency profile for domestic properties in Wales.
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Doing so much more than making tea!
To mark National Apprenticeship Week, our Data Science Degree apprentices share their progress and the difference they are making at the Data Science Campus.
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Data science for sustainable development
How data science is helping to address the challenge of measuring the Sustainable Development goals in the UK.
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Guest blog: Is loneliness associated with movement for education?
In this guest blog, the Jean Golding Institute data challenge winners, explore if there’s an association between the Loneliness Index scores and movement for education.
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Faster indicators of UK economic activity
Today we published latest release of new, faster, indicators of economic activity constructed from novel data sources.
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Can non-standard data sources help us understand the relationship between management practices and high growth?
Can non-standard data sources help us understand the relationship between management practices and high growth?
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Science outreach in the community
Our new Schools Engagement Strategy in partnership with Techniquest, aims to build science capital in primary aged children.
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Bringing university expertise to you
Applications are now open for civil servants to study MDataGov modules at ONS in 2020.
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Mapping beaches with the Data Science Accelerator Programme
Data Science Accelerator mentee Ciaran Evans from the UK Hydrographic Office attempts to answer the question “What is the beach made of?”
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The final piece of the jigsaw
The Data Science Campus launches its first Data Science Graduate Scheme.
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Increased demand in the data science job market
Every day our digital footprint is growing through simple activities like shopping, meaning nearly every industry is seeking data science skills.
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Data science capability for Africa
The Campus is supporting colleagues in statistical organisations across the world to take advantage of new data and techniques in their work.
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Sponsorship for the 2019-2020 MDataGov programme
We are pleased to sponsor another cohort of Civil Servants to start the Masters in Data Analytics for Government in the 2019-2020 academic year.
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Highlights from the MDataGov Symposium 2019 in Manchester
Last week I had the privilege of helping to organise the second annual MDataGov Symposium in Manchester and was so proud to see how incredibly fast the community is growing – Solange Correa-Onel
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AI for International Development
We’ve partnered with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to launch a new Hub at their offices in East Kilbride.
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Developing a Loneliness Prescription Index
We are currently using open data sets to develop a better understanding of loneliness in England. Are there places in England where people are more likely to be lonely and why?
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Trailblazing degree apprenticeships
The new Data Science Degree Apprenticeship is now live for delivery. Alison Adams shares her experience of leading the Trailblazer group to develop an innovative new learning pathway.
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Our current apprentices – how are they getting on?
Our current cohort of apprentices have just finished their training modules and are well on their way to completing their apprenticeships. Lucy and Joe tell us about their journey so far, as part of National Apprenticeship Week.
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The first data analytics apprentices – where are they now?
To mark the 12th annual National Apprenticeship Week, we caught up with some of our first data analytics apprentices now they have successfully completed their apprenticeship.
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Synthetic data for public good and art
Synthetic data mimics essential characteristics from the original dataset, creating new, substitute data that does not represent any real person, removing confidentiality requirements.
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Exploring the value of social media data
Social media is such a key part of everyday life and with the data readily available online, it has the potential to change the way we collect information to understand society. However, it is paramount that data sources used in the production of official statistics are accurate, relevant, unbiased, and most importantly, they must be used ethically.
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Join us at the MSc in Data Analytics for Government (MDataGov) Symposium 2019!
Registration for the 2019 MSc in Data Analytics for Government (MDataGov) Symposium is now open. The annual Symposium is an opportunity for…
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Welcoming Statistics Indonesia
In the last quarter of 2018 the Campus welcomed delegates from Statistics Indonesia to exchange experience in growing data science skills across government, as they prepare to launch their own Masters programme and Centre for Big Data Statistics.
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Understanding the characteristics of high growth companies using non-traditional data sources
High growth businesses drive economic growth in the UK. Therefore, understanding the characteristics that may lead to high performance is an area of active research.
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Innovative Data Science Degree Apprenticeship for Wales launches
Following the graduation of our first data analyst level 4 apprentices, we launched the first Data Science Degree Apprenticeship in Wales, with the first round of applications now complete.
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FinBins – granular classification of the UK’s financial sector
We explore whether it is possible to classify financial corporations to their detailed Standard Industry Classification 2007 (SIC2007) using financial assets, liabilities and other firm-level data.
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News to you? Introducing the Campus newsletter
I joined the Campus at the start of September, with a responsibility for all communications across the Campus – no…
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How green is your street – visualising the urban forest
Over the last year, we have developed an experimental method for estimating the density of trees and vegetation present at…
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Join the data revolution in Rwanda!
These guys are actually from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were sitting in the sun, outside a shop in…
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Access to services using multimodal transport networks
The ability for a household to access a range of services necessary for day-to-day living is of great importance to…
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Sharing knowledge for public good at the Royal Statistical Society Conference
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) 2018 International Conference was held down the road from our Newport campus in Cardiff’s magnificent…
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Mapping the urban forest at street level
Urban trees provide a wide range of environmental, social and economic benefits, such as improving air quality and are known…
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Caring for the future – working with Hafod
The Data Science Campus has begun a research project with Hafod, a social residential tenant organisation, to explore the flows…
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optimus – turning free-text lists into hierarchical datasets
Project summary Many datasets contain variables that have been collected as free-text in an uncontrolled way. In the case where…
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3-month MSc madness: the value of a Data Science Campus internship
How did I end up at ONS? In the midst of Christmas and New Year (also known to students as…
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The months that were – July and August 2018
As we say goodbye to another summer, here’s my latest round up on the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Data…
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Optimising the ONS site search function with Google Analytics and Natural Language Processing
In this study, we investigate challenges related to the site search function of the ONS website and make recommendations on…
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The month that was – June 2018
So, June was notable for (i) more uninterrupted sunshine than I can remember in the UK; (ii) the short-lived excitement…
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Analysing port and shipping operations using big data
The maritime freight industry is of critical importance to the economic output of the UK, with almost half a billion…
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The month that was – May 2018
Where do the days go? It’s already time for my latest update – providing an overview of what happened in the…
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The highs and lows of juggling university, work and life
One of our first Campus-funded students shares her experience as a data scientist in the Home Office undertaking the MSc in…
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We all need more girls in STEM
Girls into STEM workshops STEM Ambassadors from the Data Science Campus hosted a group of female school pupils visiting the campus….
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The months that were – March and April 2018
Here’s the latest “monthly” update for the Data Science Campus, covering both March and April 2018. We took a break…
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The month that was – February 2018 (plus a bit)
Here’s our latest monthly update for the Data Science Campus, covering February 2018. We’ve taken the liberty of stretching the…
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Evaluating Calorie Intake
1. Executive Summary The Evaluating Calorie Intake for Population Statistical Estimates (ECLIPSE) project was carried out by the Data Science…
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Following a brief midwinter break, here is our bumper two-month update, covering December 2017 and January 2018. The Campus continues…
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