Improving outcomes for Children and Young People through data science was the focus of a recent workshop which brought together leading multidisciplinary experts from across the North of England.
Held on 18th October at Cloth Hall Court in Leeds, the N8 cross-theme workshop Delivering opportunity – improving outcomes for Children and Young People through data science was supported by the N8 Research Partnership, the collective body for the North’s eight research intensive universities.
The aim of the event was to discuss how data science and child research communities could be connected to support the new government in its mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
The N8 is one of the founding partners in the Child of the North (CotN) initiative, alongside Health Equity North. The N8 Computationally Intensive Research (N8 CIR) programme meanwhile brings together computer and data scientists from across the N8’s member universities to pursue common research objectives and skills development.
Together, this means the N8 is ideally placed to leverage the knowledge and capabilities of regional universities to support the CotN’s goal of improving the lives of children in the North of England.
The workshop was attended by approximately 60 delegates from across all N8 universities and beyond. This included child health, development, and education experts from the CotN initiative as well as computer and data scientists from N8 CIR across its core themes of Digital Health, Digital Humanities, and Machine Learning. Representatives from local authorities and NHS trusts in the North of England as well as the Bradford Institute for Health Research and Public Health England also participated in the event.
Professor Charlie Jeffery, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of York and Chair of the N8, and Anne Longfield CBE, Founder and Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives think tank, opened the event. Both reflected on the dire challenges facing many children growing up in the North of England, but also the opportunities presented by organisations working together and harnessing the power of data to address these challenges.
Proceedings for the remainder of the event were compered by Professor Mark Mon Williams of the CotN initiative and Dr Sam Relton, Associate Professor in Health Data Science and N8 CIR Digital Humanities Lead for the University of Leeds.
The workshop consisted of three sessions:
- Improving outcomes for Children and Young People and the role of universities
- The opportunities created through the CotN initiative
- An overview and panel discussion about data, analytics, and AI assets within the North of England
During these sessions the delegates covered issues ranging from how to better connect and coordinate data science, child research communities and universities; how to optimise value while avoiding duplication; and the importance of combining data insights with the lived experiences of communities.
Other key issues covered in the discussion included what more could be done to align child research data science communities with regional systems and services. The importance of generating societal benefits and shaping policy was also explored, with participants considering how universities and data insights from the North of England could be fed into the nation’s political conversation.
From this, several action points for the workshop’s stakeholders were identified. This included:
- Connecting and coordinating people to spread awareness of expertise across multiple themes, in particular by involving students at N8 universities with lived experience of relevant issues.
- Maintaining a focus on key priorities, as exemplified by the on-going CotN/Centre for Young Lives report series, to ensure streamlined and focused collaboration across the North.
- Embedding more lived experience within the CotN leadership team and employing a youth strategy to empower the next generation of students.
- Exploring how evidence across data science projects can be synthesised to facilitate collaboration and increase impact.
- Improving understanding within the universities and across external stakeholders about the availability of data and research expertise.
To find out more about the topics covered and the full list of actions identified, download a copy of the workshop summary report.
Professor Charlie Jeffery, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of York, and Chair of the N8, said:
“The North of England is home to expertise that could be drawn upon to help address the region’s concerning child poverty levels and the multifaceted, complex issues affecting many children and young people.
“We need to create opportunities for collaboration between the North’s academics, data scientists, healthcare professionals, local authorities, and other stakeholders, to align their efforts and ensure we are collectively having as much of an impact as possible.
“The recent N8 workshop played an important role in advancing this conversation and setting out the actions that will bring our data assets and experts together. This will not only empower our academic communities and enhance the contributions of regional universities, but will ultimately lead to the shaping of initiatives, projects and government policies that will help build a better future for all children and young people.”
Professor Mark Mon-Williams of the University of Leeds and CotN initiative said:
“The new government have laid out their bold ambition to improve outcomes for all children and young people throughout the UK. Our community aims to support these efforts by harnessing the power of data science to build a country that works for all children and young people.
“Our universities are full of academics with the skills, expertise, and desire to help public service providers make best use of the UK’s data assets and create a country of opportunity through a well-educated and healthy population. By pooling these capabilities and aligning them with the government’s mission, this workshop has helped lay the foundations for building a better country for children.”
Dr Sam Relton, Associate Professor in Health Data Science and N8 CIR Digital Humanities Lead for the University of Leeds, said:
“The Child of the North reports released throughout 2023/24 have highlighted the scale and complexity of the issues facing young people in Northern England.
“We are delighted to have brought together colleagues from the public sector, experts in health and education, and computer scientists for the first time under the N8 banner. The workshop led to a number of practical steps to increase awareness and build strong working partnerships to tackle the problems young people face.
“In the coming years, my colleagues within the N8 Computationally Intensive Research group are excited to leverage data and computing infrastructure from across the region to deliver meaningful change for our local communities.”
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