By Neal O’Riain, Community Manager

To begin with a little about my background, I’m originally from Ireland, and I studied at Trinity College Dublin, completing my PhD in Astrophysics in 2015. During my time in academia I studied stars older and larger than the Sun, constructing computational models of their atmospheres. This research gave me the opportunity to work on challenging astrophysical problems, to collaborate with scientists around the world, to make use of state-of-the-art telescopes, and to study some of the most interesting objects in our Universe.

While working in research I was also heavily involved in science education and engagement, being part of many projects to publicise and promote Irish science. In 2013 I founded Student2Scientist, an education initiative, funded by Google and SFI, aimed at introducing computing centrally in the Irish science curriculum. During the course of my involvement with Student2Scientist I worked with students, teachers, academics, and government in designing a new coding course for the curriculum.

I have always had a great interest in computing and data, both inside and outside of my research, and as a result I was drawn to the field Data Science upon leaving academia. Data Science has been widely discussed in the last number of years, and it is a topic I was keen to explore. The increase in recorded data in the last decade has made it possible for Data Scientists to quantify previously intractable problems, and as the field continues to grow it will have a huge impact on industry and organisations.

At this exciting time in Data Science I am delighted to begin work as Community Manager at Pivigo. As Community Manager I will have the opportunity to combine my passion for working with data, with my interest in working with students and academics, providing support during their transtion from research to Data Science. I am enthusiastic about being involved in organising S2DS, the largest Data Science bootcamp in Europe, as well as working with companies in finding new data applications and insights in this fascinating and fast-growing field.