Data Science and Innovation Accelerator - Mentor

Description

The Data Science and Innovation Accelerator is a free programme available to public sector organisations in Scotland, designed to support the innovative use of data to solve real-world business problems or discover new opportunities.

Our volunteer mentors are central to the success of the Accelerator programme. Your genuine interest in your mentee as a person and support for their development is what makes the programme special. Once you are assigned to one of the projects that are accepted onto the Accelerator, your role is to build a relationship with your mentee, building trust and helping them to look critically at their challenge, enabling them to explore and test their ideas.

What does a typical Accelerator project look like?

There is no typical Accelerator project but there are some common features that we’ve observed in projects over the years:

• A genuine user need, a business challenge, or opportunity related to data
• An idea that would benefit from focused exploration, with the potential to produce an output such as a prototype or reproducible model over 12 weeks.
• An applicant with a desire to improve their technical data skills
• A manager who is enthusiastic about the project and can support and protect time for the applicant to work on their project
• Organisations that have an appetite for change and see the benefits of building greater technical capability amongst their workforce
• An openness to working in a concentrated, short time frame to prototype and test ideas following Agile principles

How might I benefit from volunteering to become a mentor?

Being a mentor is a great way to build your people, leadership, communication and critical thinking skills. In supporting a real-world public sector project, you have an opportunity to demonstrate your full range of experience from your technical skills, to project management and user design. Mentors also have the opportunity to share their skills with the wider cohort, helping to build your network. Being a mentor provides insight to a public sector organisation and builds valuable understanding of the public sector data ecosystem.

We asked previous mentors what was the best part of volunteering:

“The opportunity to drive a project forward without being directly hands-on. Exploring ideas, identifying the most promising one, persuading the mentee, and providing a Plan B when the initial approach encounters obstacles. This experience is distinctly different from working on a project alone.”

“Helping my mentee with the big picture stuff bringing focus back from deliverables to development and user feedback”

“Seeing the enthusiasm and excitement of the mentees when they had a breakthrough with my help was very satisfying. I felt very valued by them and it was very fulfilling to see the project come together.”

Read more about mentoring in this blog post by 2022 mentor, Simon Rogers from NHS National Services Scotland: Developing the next generation of data scientists

How might my organisation benefit from my volunteering?

We really encourage you to share the experience you gain in the Accelerator with your organisation, whether that’s technical learning, project management, communications, user design, mentoring or coaching skills. All of these could benefit your organisation.   

Public sector organisations who submit projects to the programme report that the insights gained have helped them to assess their data maturity and identify steps for improvement. The programme can provide the evidence needed for participants to initiate discussions with senior leaders, strengthening the case for enhancing technical skills or better addressing user needs. Your experience of being part of this may also inform progress in your own organisation.

Through your participation, you are helping to foster your own and your organisations connections within Scotland’s broader public sector data ecosystem, potentially opening doors to potential future collaboration and continued learning. 

What software is typically used?

Accelerator projects typically use open-source programming languages such as R or Python. We encourage participants using programming languages to use version control for their code using Git and to share their code using GitHub (as appropriate) and we would look to the mentors to support this.

We can also offer access to an analytical workbench which provides a secure environment with permission controlled virtual machines provided by the University of Edinburgh. The analytical workbench has a wide range of tools available, and you can download other software as required.

What public sector organisations have you worked with?

Here are some of the organisations that have taken part in the Accelerator:

Blogs by previous participants and mentors

• NHS National Services Scotland: Developing the next generation of data scientists
• National Records of Scotland: It’s about the journey not the destination
• Public Health Scotland: How the Data Science Accelerator sparked a solution to meet a Covid data challenge
• Scottish Legal Complaints Commission: Uncovering trends in text through the Data Science Accelerator
• Transport Scotland: Leveraging new technologies to shape innovative engineering solutions

What is my commitment to my mentee and the programme?

We ask you to commit around 2-3 hours per week to your mentee and the programme from September. This time includes providing 1 hour of direct support per week and being available to consider questions between meetings if required. You will be invited to join weekly cohort meetings in September – December. You will also be invited to attend 2 in-person events in Edinburgh – one in September and another in December. 

Who can apply?

We are looking for people who can evidence strong technical skills in data. Typically, our mentors are working as data scientists, senior analysts or statisticians, economists, senior leads in data, or information management. We are also open to receiving applications from PhD students with relevant experience. 

Fees and funding

There is no charge for taking part in the Accelerator. The programme is fully funded by our sponsors – The Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, National Records of Scotland, and Registers of Scotland. The programme is delivered in partnership with The Data Lab and the Scottish Digital Academy.

How to apply

The first step is to register with the Scottish Digital Academy via the registration link at the top of the page. You’ll then receive an email with a link to an online application form to complete and submit.

Additional information

Key dates for 2025 cohort

Mentor applications for 2025 cohort  – Close 30 June 2025 

Mentor matching for 2025 cohort – July / August 2025

Launch event at Victoria Quay, Leith, Edinburgh – 3 September 2025 (in person)

Weekly mentoring session – September – December (1 hour)

Weekly cohort meetings – September – December (50 minutes – online – optional)