Project Partners
The Data Science for Social Good (DSSGx) team at the University of Warwick are looking for partners in the not-for-profit / government sectors, who would like to work with the DSSGx UK 2023 summer programme, to deliver a data science solution that would help them and deliver social benefit, while using their data.
DSSGx is a 12-week summer programme bringing together some of the top talent from data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, to work on real-world data science challenges and deliver positive social impact. It trains students to create industry-standard data science products in collaboration with partners, to deliver positive social impact.
DSSGx helps not-for-profit organisations and government bodies to achieve more with their data by enhancing their services, interventions and outreach, helping fulfil their mission of improving the world and people’s lives.
The programme gives not-for-profit organisations and government bodies unprecedented access to inspiring, top-tier data science talent. This helps build their capacity to use cutting-edge quantitative methods to address societal challenges in areas such as education, health, energy, public safety, transportation and economic development.
Find out more about the programme here.
Could we help you to develop a solution to a data science challenge that you have?
If you're a non-profit or government organisation with a data science challenge, you can apply to become a project partner.
The Opportunity:
DSSGx is looking for project partners who want to tackle critical social challenges and believe that data can improve their operations and interventions with tangible social impact.
As a project partner, you get:
- a strong data science team that cares about your challenges
- a prototype solution (report, predictive model and software) that helps solve your problem using data science tools
- exposure and training — for the project at hand but also how to tackle these projects technically as well as through validation.
All of this comes free of charge (although running DSSGx is costly, and we would appreciate a voluntary contribution where possible).
How does it work?
Each non-profit organisation is matched together with a data science team of 3 - 4 outstanding international students (undergraduate to PhD) who will develop a tailored approach to the organisations challenge over the summer. Their academic strength is complemented by professional technical mentors and project managers. The latter ensure that the time is used efficiently, the deliverables for each week are achieved and that the organisations goals are met.
The aim overall is to combine the training of students and recent graduates with the delivery of tangible data products that can help the third sector embed AI and data science into their operations. The DSSGx 2023 programme is expected to run at the University of Warwick campus.
Deadline and requirements
The deadline for applications is initially 16th December 2022 - extended until 20 January 2023.
Project applications will go through a scoping process with data science experts to ensure feasibility and agree goals and deliverables. The partner organisation must be able to commit one day a week equivalent through the summer to take part. The data must be able to be released to DSSG during May 2023.
To understand more about the project partner requirements, you can take a look hereLink opens in a new window.
A collaboration agreement will need to be signed between the partner and the University of Warwick. You can have a read of our template agreement hereLink opens in a new window.
If you're interested in becoming a project partner, we'll ask you to complete our short 'Expression of Interest' form - available here. If you'd like to ask a specific question, please contact us at dssg@wbs.ac.uk
Although we have an initial close date of 16th December for 2023, we're happy to hear about possible projects all through the year, so please get in touch.
Here's what previous partners have said about us
“High-quality and granual data on child poverty is essential for governments, civil society organisations and many others to better understand and address violations of child rights. But in many cases, we don't know exactly where the poorest children live. The DSSG fellows have done an extraordinary work to build a publicly accessible model which predicts child poverty on a very local level. We are now continuing expanding this analysis to many more countries and are excited using this work in our advocacy and policy work going forward.”
Oliver Fiala, Save the Children
"The DSSG experience has been amazing – the fellows are embarrassingly smart and I’m impressed by the quality of their work and their dedication to the project."
Youlia Lozanova, ITU
"As Superintendent of Environment of Chile, we are pleased to have participated in the DSSGx program with the project of environmental complaints prioritization. Soon after we began working together, we noticed the compromise of the team which not only ended up translating into a high-quality product but also gave us many insights about the particular problem and the complaint process in general. It has been a wonderful experience for us and we highly recommend being part of this initiative to other organizations who want to get the most of their data and engage with a team of bright professionals."
Pablo Aguirre Hörmann, SMA
To watch some of the solutions that our teams have delivered, take a look at the short videos here.