Chief Data Officer, The Scottish Government

Bio

Working for and with government organisations, at various levels and around the world, I have spent a decade developing and improving use of data and AI to inform policy, strategy, and operational decisions. I have extensive hands-on experience working across Data Science, Data Analysis, Data Architecture, Software Development and Data Engineering, and have provided technical advice to blue chip companies and startups as well as research councils and intergovernmental organisations. My abiding interest is in using data science and social science, to design institutions that are fairer and make better use of people’s Collective Intelligence. Why? Because my Complexity Socioeconomics research suggested that traditional hierarchical social institutions are more fragile and volatile, and my real world experience tells me they introduce information bottlenecks. My Collective Intelligence work as a Data Scientist and leader has let me develop tools and data architecture to link expertise, include diverse experience, measure the quality of collaboration through network metrics, as well as helping my understanding of distributed systems – both computing and ensemble machine learning. I seek to combine network science, AI, and peer2peer mechanisms, for cooperation at scales that haven’t traditionally worked without centralised institutions. Even more, I’d like to see them explored in settings where there is no effective central authority.