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- BLOG - Access to secure data during the Covid-19 pandemic - a model for the future?
- Covid-19 and Care Homes: Advances in Administrative Data Research during the pandemic
- DATA INSIGHTS -Deprivation and informal care at the end of life
- BLOG - Reflections on engaging with children & young people about data
- NEWS - Innovative new residential linkage tool launched
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home- No.4
- DATA INSIGHTS - Youth Movements, Social Mobility and Health Inequalities
- NEWS - New report warns of deepening poverty crisis for Scottish families
- New report on Infants Born into Care in Scotland
- Spotlight on Dr Elizabeth Lemmon
- Spotlight on Jan Savinc
- BLOG - Covid-19 fines in Scotland: What we know so far
- BLOG - The value of social science and administrative data research in Scotland: how we are helping respond to COVID-19
- NEWS - Joining together with Research Data Scotland to co-host existing public panel on data
- DATA INSIGHTS - Exploring illegal drug consignments in Scotland
- DATA INSIGHTS -Linking two administrative data sets about looked after children
- NEWS - ADR UK grants 20 PhD studentship opportunities focused on quantitative research using linked administrative data
- NEWS – ADR Scotland data ambassadors launched
- Spotlight on Peter Christen
- The importance of administrative data
- Virtual Conference - Data Linkage: Information to Impact
- An Introduction to Data Science for Administrative Data Research course - March 2023
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home - No.7
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home- No.3
- DATA INSIGHTS - Investigating the effects of class composition and class size on pupils’ attainment in Scottish primary schools
- NEWS - New opportunity to join ADR Scotland’s Public Panel
- BLOG - Engaging the public through our public panel
- BLOG - Exploring the potential of synthetic data
- Children’s Health in Care in Scotland (CHiCS)
- DATA INSIGHTS - Automatic Coding of Occupations: Methods to create the Scottish Historic Population Database (SHPD)
- DATA INSIGHTS - Selective schools: do they improve health?
- DATA INSIGHTS - Were people who died at home less likely to attend hospital at the end of life during the Covid pandemic?
- EVENT - Active Travel: New Data, New Insights
- EVENT - Holyrood Evidence Week: Doing Data Better for Policy and Public Good
- EVENT - Unlocking criminal justice data in Scotland: Findings from Data First
- IPDLN Conference - Data linkage research: informing policy and practice
- NEWS - Making nursing data available to inform policy
- NEWS - New report on The Impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Care Journeys in Scotland: An Analysis of the Administrative Data on 'Looked After' Children
- NEWS - Updated report on Infants Born into Care in Scotland
- Scout and Guide participation boosts later life health
- BLOG - Geospatial Ambitions
- BLOG - Taking historical death records and developing a database for future analysis
- BLOG - Unlocking criminal justice data
- DATA INSIGHTS - Community mortality due to Covid-19
- DATA INSIGHTS - What makes people more likely to cycle to work?
- Future-proofing investment into administrative data research announced in Scotland
- NEWS - Understanding the dynamics of the nursing workforce: the potential of routinely collected data
- Spotlight on Joanna Soraghan
- Spotlight on Katherine Falconer
- Why misconceptions about population data can lead to bad outcomes
- ADR Scotland publishes its strategy for 2022-2026
- BLOG - Developing and re-shaping our public panel
- BLOG - Review of the recent DWP Areas of Research Interest Workshop
- BLOG: Developing a cross-national research agenda on crime and convictions
- BLOG: Working together to make a difference with data
- DATA INSIGHTS - Homelessness duration in Scotland: how long does rehousing take?
- DATA INSIGHTS - Occupation and COVID-19 deaths: Scotland in a comparative perspective
- DATA INSIGHTS -The health and economic benefits of active commuting in Scotland
- EVENT - ADR UK Conference 2023
- EVENT - RSE The secret world of data
- NEWS - New comic on children's rights and data
- NEWS - Report published on our children’s engagement pilot study
- NEWS - When did fines issued by the police for breaking Covid rules peak?
- Scotland’s portfolios: Research and Statistical Data - building a new approach to thematic data linkage
- Spotlight on Cecilia Macintyre
- Spotlight on Dr Evan Williams
- Spotlight on Fernando Pantoja
- Spotlight on Laurie Berrie
- ADR Scotland Winter Partnership Session - **internal event**
- BLOG - AGEING AND HOMELESSNESS IN SCOTLAND
- BLOG - Can we use linked administrative data to identify social disadvantage?
- BLOG - Commuting and its impact on health
- BLOG - The Dynamics of the Nursing Workforce in the UK: Using data to support our nurses
- BLOG: Growing up in kinship care
- Congratulations to Alastair McAlpine, the new Chief Statistician for Scottish Government
- DATA INSIGHTS - Analysing a season of death and excess mortality in Scotland’s past
- EVENT - ADR UK Virtual Half Day event
- EVENT - HDR UK Conference: Data for global health and society
- EVENT - Introduction to Data Science for Administrative Data Research course (IDS-ADR)
- Event - Public data for public good: towards better understanding children's lives
- NEWS - ADR Scotland's first flagship dataset
- NEWS - Data research initiative secures £90 m funding extension
- NEWS: Our role supporting the new Covid-19 research data service in Scotland
- Spotlight on Gina Anghelescu
- Spotlight on Michelle K Jamieson
- Webinar - An Introduction to Looked-After Children Dataset
- ADR Scotland Away Day (**for staff only**)
- BLOG - An Inside Job: Using Criminology, Police Data and a Lot of Nouse
- BLOG - Improving justice data to promote data justice in Scotland
- BLOG - Location of death in 2020: a changing trend from hospitals to homes
- BLOG - Reflecting on the ADR UK Conference: Insights from our new PhD Researchers
- BLOG - Seeking feedback on Research Data Scotland’s core principles via our public panel
- BLOG - What skills, training and support are required by those wishing a career as an administrative data researcher?
- BLOG No. 9 - Final blog in this 'deaths at home' series
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home - No. 6
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home - No.8
- BLOG SERIES - Dramatic increase in deaths at home- No.5
- BLOG: 5 things I've learnt about working with policymakers...
- BLOG: Automating Coding for Large Historical Datasets
- BLOG: COVID-19- How increased deaths at home impact the carer community
- DATA INSIGHTS -Postal deliveries of drugs in Scotland
- EVENT - 'Getting things done with data in government'
- EVENT - Linking public sector data for research: an ADR UK showcase event
- EVENT Seminar - Administrative data for social policy research: potential and pitfalls
- NEWS - ADR Scotland launches new podcast series
- NEWS - Additional funding for Understanding Children’s Lives and Outcomes
- NEWS - Engaging children and young people
- NEWS: Police use of Fixed Penalty Notices under the Covid-19 regulations in Scotland: A new data report highlights links with deprivation and inequality
- NEWS: Police use of the new Covid-19 powers: Using administrative data to analyse and evaluate practice
- Research Data Scotland - New user forum
- Spotlight on Dr Patricio Troncoso
- Spotlight on Renata Samulnik
- Summary of ADR Scotland Winter Partnership session
- Directorship of the International Population Data Linkage Network (IPDLN) for 2021-22.
- BLOG: In the light of experience: InterRAI and the final thousand days of life
- Multiple health conditions and social care
- NEWS - Susan McVie elected as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
- SCADR relocates to the Bayes Centre
- EVENT: Four day introduction to using administrative data for social and health research
- BLOG: The value of administrative data: DALYs and the Scottish Burden of Disease study
- BLOG: Where to start with parliamentary and policy engagement
- EVENT - International Conference on Administrative Data Research, Cardiff
- EVENT - Using data to realise the potential of the 'Last 1000 days'
- EVENT: TalkingData: ADR Scotland mini-summit
- EVENT: “Let’s use data to save time, money and lives”: ADR Scotland partners gather for mini-summit
- EVENTS: ADR Scotland researchers present at international conference in Cardiff
Spotlight on Cecilia Macintyre
This week, as part of International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGIS) on 11 February, we hear from our ADR Scotland colleague, Cecilia Macintyre.
We believe in the importance of shedding light on the stories of successful women from the Statistics and Data Science field, so we asked Celia some questions to get an insight into her career as well as her life in general.
Can you tell us about where you grew up?
I grew up in Inverkeithing, a small town in Fife, Scotland and went to the local school. I enjoyed maths and science at school and in sixth year decided that studying maths at university was for me. The main inspiration for this was a great maths department where the teachers were very supportive and good fun too. I also considered physics and chemistry, but decided that doing experiments was too messy and smelly after attending a university open day in Dundee.
My parents left school during the second world war, when options of studying further were not realistic, so they were not academics, but were very supportive for me to go to the University of Edinburgh. I completed a four year degree focusing on pure Maths, as that was the area I enjoyed most. In the 1980s when looking for my first job, the options seemed to be teaching, accounting, actuarial or the world of computing in various industries. I vaguely recall one of my lecturers mentioning a PhD in optimisation, but I had no appetite for further study so dismissed this without much thought. In those days there was a ‘milk round’ where prospective employers visited universities to attract graduates to their company. British National Oil Corporation made a good impression (and paid a bit more!) so in the end I became a systems analyst and moved to Glasgow. I spent quite a lot of time programming a timesheet system, but after about a year realised I wasn’t interested in business and missed using maths.
When did you decide on a career in data science & statistics?
Having vowed not to study any more I applied for a Masters in Statistics back at the University of Edinburgh! This was quite a change as I had to live off a grant and get up to speed with basic statistics as I had avoided those optional subjects in my undergraduate course. However, this proved to be a good decision as I was using my maths again, and as there were only five of us on the course we were fully integrated with the department, and would speak with Professor David Finney regularly. This course gave me an excellent grounding in statistics and after completing a dissertation in analysis of data on esophageal cancer I became interested in medical statistics.
There was a very active Medical Statistics unit at the University and by a stroke of luck they were looking to employ a junior statistician so my career began (again). This was where I came across one of my role models in statistics - Professor Gillian Raab. She was one of the lecturers there and was a talented and energetic statistician and she was always encouraging. We are still working together 40 years later!
Can you tell us more about your career?
My long career in statistics has not been short in variety, although mainly in two chunks - 14 years in the Medical School at the University of Edinburgh and then the remainder of my time in the public sector, laterally in Scottish Government (which is a partner within ADR Scotland). Here is a whistle stop tour and a few highlights:
- Researcher in Edinburgh, Lead Study and Lecturer Medical Statistics Unit
- Survey statistician on Scottish House Condition Survey, Scottish Homes
- Population and Migration, General Register Office for Scotland (GROS)
- Statistics Regulator, UK Statistics Authority
- Quality Assurance, Census 2011 General Register Office for Scotland (GROS)
- Children and Families Analysis, Scottish Government
- Administrative Data Research Scotland, Scottish Government
Did you ever have the impression that it would be easier/harder if you were male?
In general I have never felt disadvantaged as a female, although the reason I moved from academia to public sector was related to a couple of issues. First a senior member of the department said that I would be unlikely to progress without becoming a researcher into a health topic which would have been a big change for me, but also when I was involved in an interview panel the same person introduced me as providing the ‘wallpaper’. I don’t think this would have happened if I was a man!
What do you most like about your job?
I really relish the opportunity to work collaboratively with both academic and government (and local government), with the ultimate aim to develop data resources for use in informing policy. I find working in teams enjoyable, having fun whilst getting the job done. It’s good making links across different communities and not being pigeon-holed.
What is the one piece of advice you would give?
To myself, I probably should have found out about doing a PhD before now! To others, make sure you are skilled in the methods in data science, but at the same time develop your knowledge and networks in the substantive area of application.
Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party?
Elaine C. Smith, Simon Armitage, Stanley Tucci and Paulo Nutini.
If you wish to get in touch with Celia, please follow her Twitter and Instagram accounts: @celiamac58
This article was published on 09 Feb 2023