Home » Archives for November 2015

CDRC Director ‘Head Judge’ at GeoCom2015

CDRC’s UCL Director, Paul Longley, delivered a key note talk about the CDRC and awarded a prize in his capacity as Head Judge at the ‘GeoCom: Resilient Futures 2015′ conference, held 23rd-25th November in Warwickickshire.

Supported by the Association of Geographic Information (AGI), the two day event bought together experts from across the retail, government and private sectors’ to discuss the potential of geospatial data to resolve current issues. Particular focus was on how the geospatial market sector delivers value and harnesses potential for innovation.

As Head Judge for The AGI Award for Excellence in Education which was sponsored by Canal and Rivers Trust,  Paul adjudged ‘imap: delivering GIS in schools’ as winner and, along with the other judges, stated: “In utilising undergraduate students to help teach secondary teachers, both students and teachers benefit. A particularly refreshing aspect to the nomination is the way in which it has created and grown an active network of enthusiastic foot soldiers, intent upon promoting the value of GI.”

Paul Longley’s talk was well received on twitter – for more #geocom.

Further information about the award and judging criteria can be found here.

Paul Longley delivering his keynote at GeoCom 2015.
Paul Longley delivering his keynote at GeoCom 2015.

 

How useful is Big Data in the fight against Obesity?

International experts came together in Leeds this week to explore how Big Data can be used to tackle obesity and obesity related diseases.  The audience of 100 consisted of academic and non-academic experts, with wide ranging interests including big data, nutrition, health and geography.

The first of four meetings, this meeting provided an introduction to the Obesity Network and focused on Policy Impact & Data.

The morning session included presentations from a number of key network members, with speakers giving short presentations to introduce their organisation and detailing how they will be working with the Obesity Network moving forward.  The presentations and videos are available here.

The presentations were followed by a lively panel discussion, which explored the practicalities of using Big Data in the fight against obesity.  Key points covered in the panel session include:

Questions to the panel highlighted how change in practice is afoot. Public health and local authorities are now working together for a more joined up approach to issues like health and wellbeing and planning. The capability of the public health intelligence teams within the local authorities is valuable and need balancing with the skills and the software available. Through multidisciplinary institutions such as the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics coproduction of research is now possible.

Discussion moved on to how we might be able to use individual level data to evaluate clinical trials and natural experiments. The will is there from all parties to make this happen but centres like those in the Administrative Data Research Network are working through governance challenges surrounding this.

Involvement of and engagement with retail partners and the public are essential to successful work in this area and something which the obesity network will strive to achieve. Engagement will form part of the proof of concept work within the University of Leeds environment, engaging the students whose data is used in this project, along with retailers supplying anonymise data for the study.

Attendees braved the weather and took a short walk around campus, before ending the day with a networking lunch.

Dr Michelle Morris, Director of the ESRC Strategic Network for Obesity commented on the success of the first meeting:

“It has been a really exciting day sharing ideas, enthusiasm and framing how we can take research forward in this area as a multidisciplinary, multi sector and multi institution team. There is such a lot of potential to use emerging data sources to better understand and tackle obesity. I look forward to seeing the ESRC Strategic Network for Obesity leading the way….”.

You can follow the day via the Obesity Network Storify Board.

The next meeting will take place in Cambridge on Wednesday 16 March 2016.  The meeting will follow a similar format but will focus on Data, Methods and Models.

 

Drive Less, Live More – Road Safety Week

Today marks the start of Road Safety Week in the UK (23-29 November 2015) and for the first time the organisers (road safety charity – Brake) have adopted a data driven approach.

CDRC affiliate student Matt Whittle has been working with the charity to develop an interactive map to support their campaign.  Matt commented “Previously Road Safety Week has focused on more direct impacts of roads such as safe road crossings and obeying the highway code, however this year they have focused on a more environmental theme, ‘ drive less, live more’.

While around 1000 people die on UK roads per year the number of people that die prematurely to poor air quality caused by traffic pollution is estimated to be in the region of 12,000 deaths per year.”

Matt worked with Brake to develop the interactive map that allows the user to explore the links between the amount of CO2 produced, the rate of driving and cycling and inactivity with the amount of premature deaths for 2014 for each local authority. The aim of the tool is to highlight the issue of personal transport and try to reduce the amount we travel in cars and increase the usage of sustainable transport.

 

CDRC featured on Poland’s first 24-hour news channel

CDRC’s UCL affiliate, Kira Kempinska, was interviewed by TVN24, one of Poland’s most popular 24-hour news channel.

The interview discussed her presentation at the Science:Polish Perspectives 2015 conference (SPP2015), where Kira discussed whether Big Data could be used to help prevent crime.

As Kira says during the interview: “We cooperate with the police in London to show that with the analysis of large data we can increase the efficiency of their operation, which can help to reduce crime. The effectiveness of the police at any given time depend on various factors such as what they’re doing, where they’re going, who they talk to; we are using big data to optimize all of these factors”.

Full interview and associated article (in Polish, translation available).

Further details on Kira’s presentation at SPP2015 can be found here.

Kira Kempinska being being interviewed by TVN24
Kira Kempinska during her interview with TVN24

Can we use Big Data to help prevent crime?

‘Can we use Big Data to help prevent crime?’ – This is the question that CDRC’s UCL affiliate Kira Kempinska tackled when she presented at the Science:Polish Perspectives (SPP2015) on 30-31 October 2015.

Hosted by the University of Cambridge, the conference was directed at young researchers, PhD students and undergraduates of Polish origin, conducting their research at universities and institutes outside of Poland. This year the conference focused on every scientific discipline, ranging from the limits of quantum interference to the question of ownership of mammoth’s DNA.

Kira works alongside the London Metropolitan Police to produce tools that can help predict and prevent future crimes. Making use of large crime datasets and mathematics to identify patterns in crime and occurrence, she models interactions between criminals and the police to design preventive police strategies. In her presentation, Kira outlined methodological work in the area of crime prediction and prevention, focusing upon the detection of new crime hotspots, measuring the impact of police patrolling on crime levels and modelling different police patrol strategies.

Click on ‘Kira’s presentation’ for more.

New MSc brings Consumer Analytics to the forefront of Marketing Strategy

From September 2016, Leeds University Business School will offer a pioneering new MSc in Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy.

The new Masters degree will combine consumer science and retail modelling with marketing strategy, giving the next generation of marketers the skills and knowledge to tackle the big data revolution.

Developed and taught in partnership with the School of Geography, the postgraduate course will align with the work of the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC), part of the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA). This rare combination of teaching expertise will allow students to explore a range of techniques to analyse consumer data and provide insights for successful marketing strategies.

Professor Matthew Robson is Director of the new MSc Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy. He explains why the combined teaching on this course is becoming increasingly relevant in today’s fast-paced business environment:

“In the digital era, marketing strategies are increasingly influenced by consumer analytics and this is becoming an important part of marketing education.

Marketing has received a tremendous boost from internet-driven automation over the past ten years or so. Browsing, shopping and receiving customer service on the web have provided huge control to customers and also created a flood of big data.

Firms have more data than they know how to use and Masters programmes, like the MSc Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy, are needed to furnish firms with graduates who can find new data applications that can give them the edge in the marketplace.”

The University of Leeds is a major centre for this type of big data analysis in the UK. Close links between the programme and the CDRC will give students valuable opportunities to work on projects with real data. Dr Andy Newing, Lecturer in Retail Geography, explains:

“The centre offers state-of-the-art facilities for data analytics and works with major consumer organisations, including UK retailers, consultancies, consumer survey companies, utility companies, travel providers and financial services. We firmly believe that it is important for students to gain ‘hands on’ experience. They will work with examples of real consumer data and realistic business scenarios throughout the course.”

Mark Birkin, Director of the Consumer Data Research Centre, comments: “We are seeing a huge unmet need for skills in data science and market analysis amongst our commercial and government partners around the world. This course will provide the combination of analytic and business skills which will prepare talented graduates to compete for positions with premium wages and the prospect of rapid progress into more senior roles. I expect this trend to continue over the next ten to fifteen years, and beyond.”

Read more in an interview with Professor Matthew Robson, Dr Andy Newing and Dr Yeyi Liu, the academic team leading the MSc Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy.

View course information for the MSc Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy

Demographics User Group Conference – Videos now available

On 7 October 2015 the CDRC sponsored and supported the 12th annual Demographics User Group Conference (DUG), hosted at the Royal Society.

The conference focussed upon “How can data analyses best be communicated to decision-makers? Visualising – Distilling – Influencing” and bought together people from DUG’s 15 member companies, with special attendees from guests in government and universities, to spread knowledge and stimulate new ideas.

The videos of each session are now available to watch online:

10.00     Chair’s Introduction

10.15       The Data Science of Visualising London’s Data
Dr James Cheshire, University College London

10.45       Visual approaches to data-driven narratives
Alan Smith, Data Visualisation Editor, the Financial Times

11.40       News from the ESRC’s Consumer Data Research Centre
– Introduction – Jane Elliott, Chief Executive, Economic and Social Research Council
– CDRC Retail Data Portal – Professor Alex Singleton, University of Liverpool
– Masters’ student projects and prizes – Guy Lansley (UCL) and Bruce Jackson (ESRC)

12.10      How good analysis and its presentation drives decisions at Boots
Mark Chivers, Director of Estates, Boots

14.00     Workshop: Communicating data analyses to decision-makers – Now What?
– Introduction – Iain Sterland, Head of Property Insight & Analysis, Sainsbury’s
– Summaries of views

15.40     From “data” to “information”: a user’s perspective
Dame Colette Bowe, non-executive board member of the UK Statistics Authority and the Chairman of the Banking Standards Board

16.10      Panel Session

17.00     Awards & Close