Data Science & Data Analysis Month

Interested in data? Have a passion for exploring information or creating solutions? Ever thought of using your skills in data management, coding or analysis as a career? Join us for Data Science & Data Analysis month to find out more about this fast-growing and lucrative industry. Come along to our employer taster session and test ut your data mining skills or attend our employer and alumni forum to hear more about the industry, its scope and the specialisms you could go into.

Thinking about attending but not sure if it’s for you?

Come along if you want to learn more about how to use data in a career or just hear from speakers with research and PhD backgrounds who have transitioned out of academia. Improving business practice, creating important analysis or implementing processes your thing? A career in data could allow you to expand the reach of your research and support an organisation to grow in so many different industries.

If you want to transition out of academia but still support research, come along to our sessions and hear how this is possible with a career in data. 

Heres what’s coming up…
Check out the events coming up this month and learn more about this expanding and research-focused industry. Understanding the meaning behind data is becoming central to all business practice. This is why careers in data span across retail, finance, government, education and more.  Check out what’s coming up and explore a career in something new! 

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Careers in Data Science & Data Analysis Forum
Thurs 5 Dec, 5.30-7.30pm

Skills in research, analysis and data presentation are vital to the data science industry and are why increasingly organisations are looking to hire researchers.

This forum will give you the opportunity to get an insight into the data science and data analysis sector from PhD level speakers who have paved a career for themselves in this industry. Find out more about what a career in data encompasses, the wide range of industries and specialisms this covers and gain tips on how to find a researcher role. This is a key opportunity to gain an insight into a career you may not have previously considered.

Speakers include:

Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau
“Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau is Research Fellow for Defence Economics and Procurement. She studied international affairs at Sciences Po Bordeaux (France) and holds a PhD in political science from the University Paris-2 Panthéon-Assas (France). Her PhD thesis compared French and Swedish arms export policies since the end of the Cold War. Lucie’s current role involves, inter alia, data collection and analysis, catering and updating datasets on military expenditure.”

Dr Liam Duguid
“Liam has been worked in data science for the last 4 years and just moved organisations from Capita to HCL. His role has focused on data preparation, algorithm design and machine learning development along with implementation. The new role will be using these skills and others such as natural language processing to solve problems in Data Science Consultancy. He previously completed a master in Theoretical Physics at UCL followed by a PhD at Royal Holloway in High Energy Particle Physics working on dielectron decays in the ATLAS experiment at the LHC.”

Sign up on MyUCLCareers Today

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Employer Taster Session in Data Analysis – Led by Celonis
Mon 9 Dec, 12.30-2pm

Please bring your laptops!

“Process Mining – Understanding The Story Behind the Data”
Validating meaning behind data patterns can sometimes be tricky. Very often we can identify trends but struggle to understand the root causes and the story behind them. Process Mining is a useful method to reconstruct the as-is process behind the data and use sequential analysis of activities over time to visualise bottlenecks and deviations based on data stored in IT systems.

With its academic DNA Process Mining has not only turned into a budding research field but also transformed the way companies operate. The talk will cover an introduction to Process Mining both from an academic and applied perspective, its application in data-driven management today as well as a hands-on case study in the software. The session will also include insights into the unicorn story of Celonis.

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What else can you do to get career ready?

Alongside this, we have a team of careers consultants with research backgrounds who work closely with UCL’s researcher community and can provide support regardless of whether you’re looking to continue in academia or explore other options. Our “Researcher appointments” can be booked at any time through your myUCLCareers account and can be used to cover a range of queries from exploring options to getting support with applications/interview preparation. The careers consultants also run separate workshops covering a range of topics on academic and non-academic career routes for researchers.

Details of the full events programme can be found here

UK & Global Health Month… let’s reflect:

As our month exploring careers in the UK & Global Health Sector comes to a close, we are reflecting on an interesting and diverse industry. Opportunities not only lie in research, medical and scientific support but also right through to outreach, charity work and public engagement. From our month of events and expanding on a common understanding of public health, it is clear this topic falls into four main categories: Protection, Promotion, Prevention and Innovations.

We reflect on these areas, what they encompass and the top tips received…

Prevention

This is all about reducing the impact of preventable health conditions. Supporting the public to improve national wellbeing and prevent diseases. Top tips from our speakers?

1. It’s your career path – Don’t be put off by pressure from elsewhere. If academia isn’t for you, there are loads of great opportunities in supporting health prevention organisations to improve global wellbeing whilst utilising your research skills.
2. Research the industry  – Not only the big public health organisations and funders are recruiting health prevention researchers, but tones of smaller organisations, charities and start-up are also looking to hire people to act on consulting bases and in research globally

Health Promotion

This area is all about education. If your interests lie in supporting communities and improving awareness of health this could be an area to explore more. Top tips from our speakers?

1. Volunteer to get a headstart – This sector is dominated by charities and NGOs. The best way to get your foot in the door is by showing a real passion through volunteering. This can be tricky but doesn’t have to be time-consuming – many organisations are looking for short term support or long term help on a less regular basis.
2. Content creation is key – Skills in social media, design and writing can be really key here. If you enjoy communicating socially and creating content whilst utilising your degree knowledge to educate others this could be a good fit

Click this link to read more on Prospects.ac.uk 

Protection

Interested in epidemiology or researching into infectious diseases? Prevention is all about keeping the public safe from epidemics through research and emergency strategy. Top tips from our speakers?

1. Explore your options – There are tones of options to progress in this sector and whist the tradition routes may be suited to your interests, you may find a smaller organisation supporting government work could be more your thing
2. Know your passion – often these roles can be quite specialist so be sure you are interested in the subject and want to make a real difference in that area

Health Innovations

Got a great idea to improve engagement? or change health strategy? There’s a growing trend for health start-ups so if you’ve got a great idea or are doing research in an area you think is inefficient this could be your answer. Top tips from our speakers?

1. Be sure it’s for you – It is really important to be sure. This is a risky and time-consuming way to go that may not work out. But if you think you’ve got a chance to make a real change – then try it out. Check out UCL Innovation & Enterprise to find out more
2. Don’t be put off by pressure from others – If you know you’ve got an idea you want to push forward and have accounted for all the risks then following your passion is central to becoming a health innovator. Leaving academia and starting out on your own comes with a lot of risks but also means you can create your own career.

So, what does this all mean fo you?

After hearing from professionals working across roles as health researchers, consultants, innovators and entrepreneurs the biggest piece we got was explore your options, explore your skills and take a chance on something different. Map out your key skills, not only your research expertise but those soft skills you’ve learnt along the way.

Explore the key skills this industry often looks for:

Fancy supporting the general wellbeing of the public? You’ll need…

• Specific knowledge & have researched specific areas of health prevention
• A passion for improving wellbeing and strong interpersonal skills

Want to work in a health promotion charity? You’ll need…

• Skills in marketing, whether that be creating promotion materials, creating content or design
• communication skills and public speaking could be key here

Want to explore health consulting? You’ll need…

• Expert knowledge of a key health area
• presentation of research in an easily digestible way and strategic management of projects

Interested in innovating, creating your own startup? You’ll need…

• An unwavering passion for your subject and a clear strategy for your idea
• top-level networking skills and expert-written skills

Finding an industry where your skills as research are valued and utilised may seem tricky but you can find roles across all sectors and industry. This is where our themed months come in to play, if you’ve decided health organisations are not for you, join us on another themed month and hear more about careers in Data Science & Data Analytics, Communications and Research, Government, Policy and Higher Education…. the list continues!

Come along to our events and find out how your skills are so transferable across the sectors and explore how you could branch out to support an organisation to develop!

Check out our full programme of researcher events on our website today!