Introducing Analytics For Social Good
At QuantumBlack, we are excited to launch Analytics for Social Good, our pro-bono initiative bringing the best of people, processes and technology to create social and global good.
We would like to invite local UK non-profit organisations to partner with us. If you work towards social or global good, we would love to hear from you and discuss how our expertise in advanced analytics and building digital products can help you scale. We can offer a range of support depending on what is most appropriate — from informal coaching and mentoring for your team, over providing strategic advice or organising analytics bootcamps and hackathons all the way through to undertaking an analytics project together.
There is a significant potential for non-profit organisations to take advantage of the advances in data science and scale their operations using analytics:
- The first step is to identify where most of the time and resources are invested mapping out the current process of delivering social or global good. Understanding what impact can be achieved is vital for focussing the development.
- Another important aspect is data availability. In some cases, new data needs to be collected either internally or externally. The data is used to build the relevant machine learning and statistical models. The readiness of your organisation to support the development process with your domain expertise and user feedback ensures that models are fit for purpose.
- Finally, setting up the right IT infrastructure and support model to operationalise what has been built ensures lasting change and enables continuous improvement.
Over the past few years, our QuantumBlack colleagues have engaged in a variety of projects to do just this on both a global and local level. Below are a few examples of our work, which we hope will provide an overview of how we could collaborate with you.
Coding for Data Science
QuantumBlack is committed to championing diversity in the tech sector at all levels, and the only way to ensure we can achieve long term parity at the top is to encourage and welcome diversity at entry levels. One way we hope to achieve this is through our partnership with Code First Girls. We offer an introductory Python coding course with an emphasis on learning employable skills. It begins with an initial four weeks of Python basics, followed by eight weeks of programming for data science more specifically, including an introduction to machine learning, feature engineering, algorithms and evaluation metrics, and a final analytics project. This gives the participants a true taste of life as a data scientist, collaborating on a real-world challenge and deploying the skill set they have developed.
Decarbonisation
One ambitious plan to encourage the transition to a post-carbon world involves mapping the global fossil fuel supply chain and identifying where modest actions can have a disproportionate effect on cutting emissions. Through this collaborative effort with the Oxford University Smith School of Enterprise and Environment (SSEE) we hope to empower researchers, private enterprise and government organisations to understand fossil fuel supply chains in a holistic way. By furthering the understanding, we can identify the proactive steps that can be taken now to assist the transition of the global energy supply chain towards a net-zero carbon state.
Data Science for Social Good
The Data Science for Social Good programme combines three passions of ours: Supporting young people to start a career in data science, developing impactful data science models, and doing social and global good.
During the programme at Imperial College, our Principal Data Scientist Maren Eckhoff supported the initiative as a technical mentor. The team estimated traffic in London from video data with the goal to improve air quality. Jointly with a law firm in Uganda, an NLP model was developed to bring free legal advice to citizens in Africa. Finally, the team created a system to help identify individuals in Memphis, US, who need social support.
If you are a UK organisation and would like to learn more about any of these projects or would like explore how we may be able to work together, please email us at analytics-for-social-good@quantumblack.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Authored by: Thomas Essl, Jr. Principal Product Designer; Maren Eckhoff, Principal Data Scientist; Jessica Fan, Principal Product Manager; Roxanne Zhang, Consultant Data Scientist, QuantumBlack
