Information School News

More than 60 students on the MSc Data Science programme attended the annual Industry Day on Monday 28th November. The event invites speakers from various sectors in industry to share their experiences with utilising machine learning, AI and data science for applications within their domain.  Dr Lisa Clark, Head of Data Science from Atos, gave the talk "Variety is the spice of Data Science", covering a wide range of projects with government agencies and businesses.  Dr Cass Zhao, University of Sheffield, Department of Computer Science, talked about her PhD experience and how it helped her career as a data scientist and machine learning modeller. Joanna Hemingway, Team Lead of Data Visualisation and André Locher Data Engineering & Analytics Manager , gave a talk on how data science methods are used by Jet2 & Jet2holidays.  Dr Aidan Peppin, Senior Researcher from Ada Lovelace Institute, gave the talk "Careers in social research and public policy", covering a un...

The University of Sheffield Information School has announced a new undergraduate course, the BSc in Data Science. The new course has sustainability, equality, diversity and ethical practice at its core and takes a social sciences approach to responsible data science alongside giving students the practical and technical skills to analyse, critically evaluate, and solve a wide range of real-life problems. Expert industry partners involved in the design of the programme were clear that the data scientists of the future will need not just the technical skills but also the ability to contextualise the work they are undertaking. This degree will give students the skills they will need to be able to not only develop ethically and socially responsible data-driven solutions but also translate what the data means for a variety of stakeholders. The course is taught by researchers with expertise in a wide range of data science-related research areas, and was developed with input from industry expe...

The Information School is funding up to two PhD scholarships to start in 2023! Successful applicants to these GTA scholarships will be expected to provide up to 180 hours of teaching support per year (minimum 80 hours per year) alongside their research. Therefore, applicants must be able to teach topics on our Postgraduate programmes - we're particularly interested in applicants who could contribute to teaching on our Data Science and Information Systems programmes. If you're based in Sheffield, have a research question/focus in mind, have prior experience in research  and  in teaching and meet our academic entry requirements, then we'd love to hear from you! For the full specification and requirements, as well as a breakdown of the application process and links to apply, see point 5 on our website  here . You'll also find links to the other sources of PhD funding offered by the university on the same page, so you can see what is most suitable to you.

August marks the end of my dissertation, my course and my year at the University of Sheffield, and needless to say, this has been the most exciting year of my life so far. Moving abroad for the first time, and pursuing a postgraduate degree in a field I liked is an achievement I will always remember.  The excitement of studying abroad did, however, come with its own set of difficulties and hardships. Since I had never lived alone before, it was initially difficult for me to balance work, school, and, most importantly, cooking for myself every day. But as the saying goes, you learn best via challenging circumstances, and for me, that was the case. I wouldn't describe myself as a chef, but I do make nice meals (most of the time). This is one of the first pictures I took of this city, and I cannot count the number of times I used to get lost. But now that I even recognise the names of the smaller shops, I have certainly become familiar with this city. Becoming a student ambassador was...

From Environment to Information, I took a step ahead towards achieving one of my goals. As an environmental engineer with years of experience, I have always valued the contribution of Information in advancing my domain. So, after researching different universities and courses in the UK, I ended up choosing to study MSc Information Management at the Information School (iSchool). The University of Sheffield is one of the top universities in the world. It is particularly recognized for having highly distinguished information courses. The course itself is a mix of theoretical and practical modules, both of which are research-oriented. I found myself especially drawn to the practical ones. For example, in User-Centred Design and Human Computer Interaction, I learned about the psychology of human behaviour and how it affects people’s perception of and interaction with different interfaces. In general, the assignments are typically research essays. They are not difficult but would require e...

I chose to study Librarianship as I developed a love for libraries and archives during my undergraduate degree. Before applying to the University of Sheffield, I took a year out to volunteer for the NHS during the pandemic. From this experience, I was eager to get involved in a career that involved helping people. For me, becoming a librarian fit what I wanted to achieve as a future career and enrolling on the MA Librarianship course at the University of Sheffield was perfect. I was excited to learn more about the LIS field and discover which specific areas I would have a particular interest in. I was also super excited to get to know the city of Sheffield more and what it had to offer. It was nice to have the opportunity to go back to university and study a subject that I was particularly interested in. I did feel slightly nervous about my decision to commute to university, however, as I was worried that I would be missing out on the full university experience. I have found that thi...

  A new UK-led project will help tell the stories of British and other immigrant sailors in the American Civil War in ways never before possible. The “ Civil War Bluejackets ” Project —so named because of the distinctive uniform worn by U.S. Civil War sailors—is a collaboration between historians at the Northumbria University and information and data scientists at t he University of Sh effield and the University of Koblenz-Landau . Funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council , the project launches on 6 September 2022 with a call for citizen volunteers to help transcribe tens of thousands of Civil War “Muster Rolls”, documents that were carried on board U.S. ships and which capture the personal details of the c .118,000 men who fought on water for the Union between 1861 and 1865. The project team are making use of the online Zooniverse platform to share tens of thousands of these Muster Rolls, and are asking the public to help in revealing their contents. Princi...

Data Science student Greta has a passion for sustainability, so we asked her to highlight some of the ways in which Data Science and Information Technology can help us build a more sustainable future. It’s no secret that the Information Technology sector is a huge consumer of energy. In fact, the UN environment programme estimates the tech sector is responsible for 2 to 3 percent of global greenhouse emissions [1]. However, within the sector lies a useful tool for combatting carbon emissions - Data Science. The first way in which Data Science can aid sustainable development is by measuring the impact of climate change. This allows us to: 1) Monitor if our previous predictions match the current data, 2) Look at the relationship between global warming and socio-economic issues, and 3) Predict future climate issues. " Blue Marble (Planet Earth) " by  woodleywonderworks  is licensed under  CC BY 2.0 . A 2021 article from the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Journal [2] provides ...

  As Head of the Information School, I would like to welcome all of you who are beginning your studies with us. This is a new start for you and I hope that you settle into your student life in Sheffield well. During your time here, we will provide an outstanding academic education centred around research-led teaching. We are recognised nationally and internationally for our world-class research, our excellence in teaching, and, importantly, the achievements of our graduates who go on to a whole range of positions across the information and data professions. As a School, we have seen our numbers of students (and subsequently, staff) grow rapidly over the last few years. The growth of the School reflects our outstanding reputation as recognised in the QS World Rankings By Subject (First in the World in 2022 and 2021) and our excellent result in the Research Excellence Framework 2021, a national assessment of research in UK universities, where 91% of our research was rated world-...

On June 10, 2022, The University of Sheffield (UoS) organized the User Researcher Industry (URI) Day at the Diamond building. This event had speakers from different industries sharing their experiences and giving us an idea about working in research. The day consisted of diverse segments and was quite interesting especially for international students. Read on if you’d like to know more! We were first greeted with a table of refreshments and a stand where we registered our presence and sticked a name tag on our chests. I had come in a bit late, so it was only a few minutes before we were signaled by Dr. Sophie Rutter to enter the lecture theatre for the program to start. Sophie also made the welcoming speech and gave us the program for the day. Figure  1  Reception: breakfast and registration Employability Team The day started with the employability team at the university. Mr. Liam Barr discussed the overarching strategy that the employability team works in adherence to. ...