Institute for Analytics and Data Science

Trustworthy data science

It is widely used to influence public policy, improve health care, better understand the environment and the world we live in, but also to predict future outcomes in various sectors.

For over 50 years, the University of Essex has been the intellectual home of the world’s leading experts in data science. Our Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS) was created in July 2014 as a centre of excellence that utilises new forms of data science and advanced analytic techniques to tackle social challenges, engage with the public and private sectors and the wider non-academic community, to develop lasting solutions that will make the world a better place.

The data revolution has brought many benefits across all elements of human life, but it also introduces new fundamental challenges.

We believe it is important to transform the way we approach data science, from a data-centric only approach (where the focus is on creating, analysing and storing data from a pure technical perspective) to a socio-technical data science approach that requires an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach focusing on understanding the dynamic interplay between data, humans and technology.

However, the key to ensuring these elements produce impactful research and innovation is trustworthiness, as the future of data science depends on providing solutions based on data and technology that people can work with, and, most importantly, trust.