Meetup #11

Hello everyone! Thanks to all who turned out for the last meet up which was absolutely HUGE. I hope you all enjoyed the talks, I certainly did. For the next event we have another stellar line up for you all to enjoy! 25-30 minute talks followed by an open Q&A. Drinks, networking and of course tons of pizza.. Look forward to seeing you all then!

Lydia Monnington | Analytics Leader
Advanced SQL: top tips for dealing with real world data

Level up your SQL knowledge to deliver results in real world situations.

• Joining on messy data, what can go wrong and how to avoid it.
• Window functions, what makes them great and an example of how to use them to create sessions.
• Arrays, why data engineers use them and how to access data stored in them easily.

About me
In her role as Head of Analytics at Stuart Lydia identified the most important challenges for Stuart’s business and designed data driven solutions for them. Past projects include identifying the drivers of delivery costs and recommending cities for the business to expand into.

Lydia believes that charities should have access to the same data driven insights as businesses. Lydia is a director of the Stemettes, who inspire and support girls, young women and non-binary young people in STEM and is on the Scoping Committee for DataKind who help charities, local government, and social enterprises to use data science.

Having graduated with a 1st in Maths from Oxford University, Lydia has held data and analytics roles at Ocado, GHGSat, and Meta (Facebook). In these roles Lydia has designed and implemented experimentation processes, forecast company growth, planned a warehouse, defined customer segmentations, identified issues in stock control processes to reduce missing items by two thirds, and built a product from scratch, project managing and leading the data work.

Reyam Enad | Lead Data Scientist @ EDF Energy
Data Done Right: Essential Best Practice in Data Science

I'll be sharing our journey in restructuring the team and establishing technical best practices to ensure flawless project delivery. This process has been about refining our approach, aligning skills with goals, and implementing standards that drive quality and consistency across our work. Through these efforts, we're not only enhancing our productivity but also setting the stage for continuous improvement and excellence in every delivery.

About me
As a Lead Data Scientist in the nuclear energy sector, I am committed to harnessing advanced data science and AI to drive meaningful innovation in a critical industry. With a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence and a background that includes practical experience in software engineering, I bring a well-rounded technical perspective to my work, from developing predictive models to exploring advanced machine learning algorithms. I lead a team of data scientists with a particular focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Generative AI, where keeping up to date with rapid advancements in these technologies is essential to our success.

Beyond my professional work, I am passionate about championing diversity and inclusion within the tech sector. As a leader in partnerships for Women in Data, I work to broaden opportunities for women in the field, creating pathways to build skills, confidence, and careers in data science.

Please aim to arrive at 6pm. The talks will start around 6.30pm (give or take a few mins) and there will be pizza and refreshments as always on arrival :)

Look forward to seeing you all soon!