City Region Deal makes key appointment for data skills targets

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The City Region Deal is gearing up to help people across Edinburgh and South East Scotland improve their data skills.

The Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) Skills Gateway has appointed Anna Scott as its Project Delivery Manager, to take the lead on Data Education for Work activities.

ANNA SCOTT - project lead manager

ANNA SCOTT - project lead manager

Anna will be based in The Data Lab, Scotland’s Innovation Centre for Data and AI, but will work with a wide range of stakeholders from across the region, including employers and training providers.

The Data Education for Work project will develop a suite of programmes to help empower at-risk employees and low-paid workforce across the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region to prepare and equip themselves with the skills to take advantage of jobs that will be shaped by data-driven innovation.

Commenting on her new role, Anna said: “I am delighted to be joining the programme at this exciting time and look forward to working with the DDI Skills Gateway team and colleagues at The Data Lab to bring the Data Education for Work programme to life. Automation is changing the way organisations operate and I'm really excited by the opportunity to lead on the development a new employee-focussed skills programme that aims to empower workers in Edinburgh, South East Scotland and beyond to take full advantage of the changing world of work and the data training opportunities available to them to upskill or retrain.”

The DDI Skills Gateway programme is aiming to enhance data literacy across the skills pathway, including working with school pupils, college and university learners and those in work. A range of approaches are being developed including working alongside teachers to enhance the data curriculum in schools, developing short courses for college learners including women returners, and embedding data skills in undergraduate courses.

Anna joins the DDI Skills Gateway from the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (Scotland's ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership), where she led on programmes of activity designed to connect doctoral research with policy and industry. This included working closely with the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland on a national internships programme, the creation of a mentoring scheme with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the delivery of industry-focused skills training initiatives to increase business engagement with the social sciences.

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