Warwick University Festival of Social Sciences
Data Big and Small: Past, Present and Future
This event is jointly hosted by the
Faculty of Social Sciences and the Warwick Q-Step Centre.
11 May 2015 – 16:00 – 18:15, followed by a drinks reception until 19:00
Warwick's Faculty of Social Science has been doing a suite of work around big data
this year. ‘Big data’ has become an unwieldy catchphrase loaded with many different
connotations. Some researchers argue that big data are transforming everyday
social and political processes, locally and globally; others argue that big data has
always been around in one way or another. This event will consider the past present
and future of data, big and small. The event is aimed primarily at those wanting to
learn more about big data in general as well as those wanting to learning more about
different social science perspectives about big data. It will include a panel of leading
Warwick scholars drawn from across social science disciplines. Rather than giving
presentations, panellists will be asked to discuss a number of questions based on
some of the key issues we have drawn out of our suite of work around big data.
There will then be questions from the audience, which the panellists will be asked to
discuss. This will be followed by our keynote speaker, Emer Coleman.
Agenda
16:00 – 16:10
Welcome Address by Professor Chris Hughes, Chair of the Faculty
of Social Sciences; Head of Department, of Politics and
International Studies.
16:10-17:30
Panel Session
17:30-18:15
Keynote Speaker
18:00-19:00
Drinks Reception
Keynote:
Emer Coleman – A Warwick alumni now working as a journalist and consultant
writing about how technology impacts organisational development. She was the
architect of the London Datastore and more recently the Deputy Director for Digital
Engagement at Government Digital Services where she wrote the Social Media
Guidance for the Civil Service. She was named in Wired Magazines top 100 Digital
Power Influencers List 2011.
Panel:
Dr Philippe Blanchard - Assistant Professor at the Department of Politics and
International Studies, and member of the Warwick Q-Step Centre. He is currently
involved in a number of European research projects on political trajectories,
environmental politics and old and new social sciences methods.
Dr Claire Crawford – Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics. Her
recent research involves understanding what explains socio-economic and ethnic
differences in Higher Education participation and attainment, and what universities
and policymakers can do to help reduce these gaps.
Dr Olga Goryunova - Associate Professor at the Centre for Interdisciplinary
Methodologies. Her recent work involves questions about the digital subject/person
in relation to data mining and an ESRC project on "Picturing the Social”.
Dr Tobias Preis - Associate Professor of Behavioural Science and Finance at the
University of Warwick. Together with his colleague Dr. Suzy Moat, he directs the
Data Science Lab at Warwick Business School. His recent research aims to predict
real world behaviour using data taken from Google, Wikipedia, Flickr and other
sources. His research has been featured in the news, the BBC, the New York Times,
the Financial Times, Science, Nature, Time Magazine, New Scientist and the
Guardian. He has given a range of public talks including presentations at TEDx
events in the UK and in Switzerland. See here for further details:
http://www.tobiaspreis.de.
Dr Nick Sofroniou - Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment
Research. His recent work involves developing statistical models for complex
samples in education and the social sciences, e.g., students nested in classrooms,
employees in different countries, and longitudinal studies. He maintains a keen
interest in evidence-based policy and in the interplay between national and
international-level policy initiatives.
Chair:
Dr Emma Uprichard – Associate Professor at the Centre for Interdisciplinary
Methodologies and co-direct of the Warwick Q-Step Centre. Her recent research
explores how different methods, including big data analytics, can be developed for
complex social policy and planning purposes.