The Alan Turing Institute is the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. The Institute is named in honour of the scientist Alan Turing and its mission is to make great leaps in data science and artificial intelligence research in order to change the world for the better.

The creation of the Data Skills Taskforce was a key recommendation in the Nesta and Universities UK report, Analytic Britain. The report found that there were many agencies in the UK exercising leadership to address the skills shortages arising in industry from the data revolution. However, collaboration was needed to address this national challenge and to identify good practices for education and skills provision.

The Data Skills Taskforce is co-chaired by Ray Eitel-Porter (Managing Director, Accenture Analytics) and Sir Adrian Smith (Institute Director and Chief Executive, The Alan Turing Institute), who are supported by a steering group with representatives from DCMS and The Alan Turing Institute.

ROLE PURPOSE

The Data Skills Taskforce are offering up to 3 positions to individuals wishing to work alongside the Taskforce to address data skills challenges. Position holders will be responsible for leading task-and-finish groups in areas of specific interest or expertise. They will engage with – and contribute to the expansion of – the Taskforce’s network of stakeholders and co-produce policy outputs and briefings. The role involves undertaking a project, guided by Taskforce stakeholders, to address challenges in the data science education landscape. We are accepting a wide range of project proposals in any one, or multiple, of the four thematic areas identified by the Taskforce below.

1. Organisational Data Readiness (AI Council Roadmap: “National, Cross-sector Adoption: Business as smart adopters”).
2. Professionalisation (NDS: 5.1.1 Definition of data skills and role descriptors, AI Council Roadmap: Recommendation 6: Commit to achieving AI and data literacy for everyone. Recommendation 5: Make diversity and inclusion a priority).
3. School-level data literacy (AI Council Roadmap: Recommendation 6: Commit to achieving AI and data literacy for everyone. Recommendation 5: Make diversity and inclusion a priority).
4. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion / Widening Participation (AI Council Roadmap: Make diversity and inclusion a priority.)

We also welcome applications from projects in other thematic areas relevant to national data skills challenges as outlined in the AI Council Roadmap or other recent government reports.

The role holder(s) will lead task-and-finish groups comprising of both group and individual work to create output(s) pertaining to challenges in the four thematic areas above. The output(s) are developed and implemented by the secondment in relation to their current work/research and signed off by the Executive Board.

DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

• Work in partnership with project partners (academic and industry) to identify, design and develop a project to support organisations’ data skills development and align with policy recommendations from the documents linked under thematic areas.
• Lead task-and-finish work groups comprised of the Skills Team and Taskforce members to gather and collate evidence, conduct research, produce regular project management reports for project stakeholders and undertake workshops with the Taskforce Executive Board.
• Ensure project deliverables comply with accessibility and usability guidelines, copyright legislation, and be made available open source, considering Equality, Diversity and Inclusion practices at all stages of development.
• Work with the task-and-finish-group to co-produce a policy artefact (report, recommendation, consultation) at the end of the project, detailing the progress against the project’s objectives.
• Communicate and relay findings to the Data Skills Taskforce and other UK organisations to support the development of future strategic developments and encourage national level interest.

• Undergraduate degree in a pedagogical / data science / AI / digital related field.
• Experience conducting research in an educational or academic context.
• Ability to lead a large project with responsibility for developing and communicating action plans and objectives linked to organisational strategy.
• Expert in data gathering and analysis, able to develop hypotheses to explain results and confidently present findings.
• Ability to critically collect evidence from distributed sources (including the National Skills Agenda) to support future strategy.
• Collaborative approach to project work and experience in working with multiple stakeholders within a project.

Please see the Job description for a full breakdown of the duties and responsibilities as well as the person specification.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

If you are interested in this opportunity, please click the apply button below. You will need to register on the applicant portal and complete the application form including your CV and a short proposal (up to 500 words) for a thematic area or another National Data Skills challenge. In your proposal, please detail how you would approach the research to achieve the desired project goals highlighting the motivation, experience and skills you would bring. For example, the National Data Skills Portal was a research project undertaken to identify and bridge data science and AI training skills gaps, prodiving a centralised platform with a self-assessment tool for small businesses, labour market analyses, collated resources and more.

If you have questions about the role or would like to apply using a different format, please contact us on 020 3970 2148 or 0203 862 3340, or email [email protected].

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 14 February 2022 at 23:59

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This part time (0.4 – 0.6 FTE) post is offered on a fixed term basis for up to 12 months. For the successful candidates, the Turing will try to accommodate the work requirements. The salary range for this post is £35,000-£40,000 (pro rata) according to experience plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies, https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/why-work-turing/employee-benefits

This opportunity is open for both direct employment and secondment from home institutions can be considered.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued and everyone is treated fairly. In accordance with the Equality Act, we welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

We are committed to building a diverse community and would like our leadership team to reflect this. We therefore welcome applications from the broadest spectrum of backgrounds.

Reasonable adjustments to the interview process will be made for any candidates with a disability.

Please note all offers of employment are subject to obtaining and retaining the right to work in the UK and satisfactory pre-employment security screening which includes a DBS Check.

Full details on the pre-employment screening process can be requested from [email protected].

The Alan Turing Institute is based at the British Library, in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter.

In line with current Government guidance, most of our organisation is currently working remotely. When Government guidance changes, we will trial a Hybrid Working Model for an initial six-month trial period. During this period, staff will be expected to work at our British Library office for a number of days per month, dependent on the requirements of the role. As a guide, we anticipate this will be between 2-4 days per month, but the hiring manager will be able to confirm this during the interview