LIDA Data Scientist Development Programme

Leeds Social Sciences Institute funds one Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) Data Scientist Development Programme (DSDP) post.

The programme provides social science undergraduate and Masters students and career changers, with the opportunity to collaborate with an academic project team and an external organisation to own and deliver a specific research project.

The academic supervisory team will work with businesses or public sector organisations to devise a research question which will use real-world data to target urgent social challenges, in addition to providing guidance and mentorship to the data scientist. The projects will vary dependent on the organisation and academics involved, but this might include the analysis or visualisation of data (e.g. quantitative, qualitative or ‘big data’) or the formulation of engagement and outreach working with the local community.

Proposals will need to:

· Engage with an external partner over a social data science problem to maximise the impact and influence of their research on non-academic beneficiaries and to foster non-academic stakeholder engagement;

· Comply with the LIDA Data Scientist Development Programme guidance released in their annual Call for Proposals (Feb-March);

Recruitment for staff data scientists to carry out the project work will be carried out by Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) and advertised via the University of Leeds jobs pages as Grade 5 training and development posts. All data scientists will be hosted by LIDA and receive mentorship, technical training, and career development opportunities.

LIDA will be inviting project proposals for its DSDP again in February 2025, with proposals being selected in March 2025. The Programme will be seeking to award ring-fenced ESRC IAA funding to 2 six-month social data science projects to commence in October 2025/April 2026.  Please reach out to DSDP Manager Kylie Norman for further information on project eligibility for this funding.