The Contribution of Doctoral Skills within the Digital Economy

THE CONTRIBUTION OF DOCTORAL SKILLS WITHIN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Produced by the Digital Economy Network on behalf of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme July 2016

The contribution of doctoral skills within the Digital Economy About this Document In Spring 2009, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced it would be awarding grants totalling ÂŁ250m to fund 44 new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) in UK universities. Seven of these centres focused on Digital Economy research.

These Centres were launched as an alternative to conventional standalone PhDs, where students would work together, generally on a multidisciplinary basis, to tackle global issues, and graduates would benefit from enhanced team-working and problem solving skills, together with increased entrepreneurial confidence, business acumen and scientific rigour.

As the first CDT students began to graduate in 2014, the EPSRC commissioned a study to track the careers of the first two cohorts of the seven Digital Economy CDTs, which was carried out by Dr Rachel Keller, and was completed in Autumn 2015.

In addition to informing on the findings of the career tracking exercise, this document aims to assess the impact of those centres on alumni careers, along with the impact the graduates have had on the wider digital economy. It also provides case studies of CDT graduates from these centres and their achievements since completing their PhD. July 2016 Acknowledgements This publication has been produced by the Digital Economy Network on behalf of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme, which is led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in collaboration the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The Digital Economy Network is supported by RCUK Grant No. EP/L011891/1 and is led by the Universities of Nottingham, Lancaster and Southampton.

Authors: Professor Sarah Sharples and Felicia Black, Digital Economy Network and EPSRC CDT in My Life in Data (Horizon), The University of Nottingham.

Information from "Career tracking the first cohorts from the Digital Economy Centres for Doctoral Training - Assessing and Maximising their contribution to the Digital Economy" (Keller, 2015), a report for the EPSRC Digital Economy Theme produced by Rachel Keller has been included within this document.

Publication designed and produced by Research Media Ltd. Printed by: Ratcliff & Roper Print Group.

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How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Evolution of the digital world Digital and data technologies have been part of our everyday lives for many years now, with technology continuing to shape all aspects of society, economy and policy, albeit at varying rates in different global markets. This continues to present us with new challenges and opportunities on a daily basis.

The digital economy has rapidly expanded to become the international dominating driver of innovation, competitiveness and growth, and the related technologies are continuing to help us lead and change political and business landscapes on an international scale.

Here in the UK, it is vital that our scientific research rapidly realises and supports the transformational impact of innovative and entrepreneurial digital technologies on community life, cultural experiences, future society, and the global economy. The EPSRC leads the cross-council Digital Economy Theme on behalf of Research Councils UK (RCUK) in order to realise this objective.

The RCUK Digital Economy Theme brings together the underpinning technologies, with all the elements required to deliver transformation, and focuses on delivering impact from the research and training in partnership with users.

In order to be leaders in the thriving digital world, it is vital that we have a sustainable and world class model of investing in higher education doctoral training that can produce the future leaders, scientists, technologists, innovators and policy makers who can have a real impact on the global digital world.

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Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) CDTs are currently one of three main ways that the EPSRC funds doctoral training in Higher Education. The other two methods are through Industrial CASE Studentships, where EPSRC grants are topped-up by funding from an industry partner for an individual student, and via Doctoral Training Partnerships, which are flexible awards that support doctoral training in all areas of engineering and the physical sciences that have relevance to the EPSRC remit.

The EPSRC-funded Centres bring together diverse areas of expertise to train engineers and scientists with the skills, knowledge and confidence to tackle today's evolving issues and future challenges. They also provide a supportive and exciting environment for students, create new working cultures, build relationships between teams in universities and help forge lasting links with industry.

Studentships are funded for four years and include technical and transferrable skills training, as well as a research element. Many CDTs leverage additional studentships from other income sources (e.g. university funding, EU grants, industrial funding and private sponsorship).

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How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Digital Economy CDTs Newcastle University – EPSRC CDT in Cloud Computing for Big Data Newcastle University – EPSRC CDT in Digital Civics Lancaster University – EPSRC HighWire CDT University of York – EPSRC CDT in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI) - in collaboration with Goldsmiths University of London and the University of Essex The University of Nottingham – EPSRC CDT in My Life in Data (Horizon) University of Oxford – EPSRC CDT in Healthcare Innovation University College London – EPSRC CDT in Financial Computing & Analytics - in collaboration with Imperial College London and London School of Economics Queen Mary University of London – EPSRC & AHRC CDT in Media and Arts Technology University of Southampton – EPSRC CDT in Web Science Innovation University of Bath & Bournemouth University – EPSRC CDT in Digital Entertainment

Digital Economy Network The Digital Economy Network is a national network of CDTs linked to the Digital Economy research area, and exists to support, deliver and add value to the training activities of CDT students. The Network is funded by the RCUK Digital Economy Theme and has five main objectives: ■■ Theme 1: To provide a forum for sharing best practice in CDT delivery and develop a repository of expertise in this area.

■■ Theme 2: Enhance the student experience by providing practical and financial support for national large-scale shared events for Digital Economy students.

■■ Theme 3: Increase the impact of postgraduate research in the digital economy by delivering highly sustainable impact events and specialist entrepreneurial training.

■■ Theme 4: Develop specialist skills through collaborative and CDT student peer-led workshops and seminars.

■■ Theme 5: Support outreach and dissemination activities from individuals, innovation agencies and groups of students.

Examples of activities that have been supported since Spring 2014 include the annual Digital Economy Summer School, cross-CDT writing retreats, digital outreach labs and Digital YES - an entrepreneurial competition for postgraduate research students.

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Tracking the career paths of CDT students As the first CDT graduates were starting to emerge in 2014, the Digital Economy Theme commissioned an investigatory study into the career destinations of the 2009 and 2010 cohorts of students from the first seven Digital Economy Theme CDTs. This study was carried out by Dr Rachel Keller, a graduate of the HighWire Centre for Doctoral Training at Lancaster University, and the objectives were to: ■■ Analyse and assess the career tracks and destinations of the first two cohorts of the Digital Economy CDTs. ■■ Identify and evaluate CDT student/graduate contributions within the thriving digital economy on both a national and global level.

■■ Produce and highlight Digital Economy CDT student case studies from various disciplines from the findings.

In September 2015, Keller produced the subsequent report for the EPSRC detailing the findings “Career Tracking the First Cohorts from the Digital Economy Centres for Doctoral Training - Assessing and Maximising their Contribution to the Digital Economy" (Keller, 2015). This comprehensive document provided evidence that: ■■ Digital Economy CDT students are recruited from a wide range of backgrounds, working within an extensive range of disciplines and areas, at differing career and life stages.

■■ CDT graduates are very much in demand – and in the majority of cases, have have found it very easy to secure post-doctoral employment in a variety of sectors and contexts, both in the UK and internationally.

■■ DE CDT alumni are making strong contributions to society and the economy, in areas such as health, business, the technology industry and academia, on both a national and global scale.

■■ Individuals completing a digital economy CDT PhD are leaving universities equipped with combinations of unique high-level doctoral skills, which may not have been possible via a conventional or more traditional PhD route.

■■ CDT graduates have utilised entrepreneurial capabilities developed by the CDT programme to go on to create digital start-ups, spin-out products and technological innovations, as well as mentoring future doctoral students looking to follow a similar path.

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How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Key Findings: CDT benefits Consistent messages emerged from Keller’s report that research students who are based within a CDT environment reap unique elements that are distinct to a CDT that may not always be realised via a conventional route PhD. Five key benefits have been specifically highlighted: ■■ The interdisciplinary breadth of research that is carried out within CDTs, spanning sectors such as healthcare, transport systems, information technologies, financial services and creative industries.

■■ Opportunities to work collaboratively within and across cohorts, sharing expertise, experiences, backgrounds and benefitting from informal mentoring.

■■ Increased levels of business acumen and entrepreneurial confidence.

■■ Enhanced organisational and team working skills, due to increased opportunities to work as a team, both formally and informally.

■■ Creation of new working cultures and supportive environments.

These benefits enable students to graduate with sought-after high-level post-doctoral capabilities that can allow them to access to expert careers in academia, industry, policy or within individual or joint-venture entrepreneurial projects, such as digital start-ups and spin-outs.

“I don’t think they would be in this interdisciplinary space without this programme. I think the programme would be harder if there was only one person doing it….. If you have cohort with mixed strengths they support each other. It has been an eye opener to me……” (Academic Supervisor)

Quotes obtained from CDT stakeholders, such as academic supervisors and CDT alumni employers also demonstrate recognition of the positive aspects of CDT cohorts:

“The CDT exposed her to the views and conventions of many different disciplines which would have shaped her skill set and general outlook”

“He has a blend of skills, characteristics and experiences taken out of the doctoral (training) programme. The broad overview of the field in the 1st year helped this”

The case studies within this document will highlight various examples of CDT benefits on post-doctoral careers, and how alumni feel the CDT has helped them progress and fulfill their potential.

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Key Findings: The statistics This section of the document aims to provide

These statistics show some interesting

graphical representation of the data collected

insights in terms of the following:

from the 2015 career tracking study. The

■■ The diversity of CDT students in

research was carried out using online surveys,

the 2009 and 2010 cohorts e.g. the

semi-structured interviews and questionnaires.

age ranges, prior work experience

Graduates from the following CDTs

and degree subjects on entry.

participated in the data collection exercise:

■■ The first career destinations (first jobs)

■■ CDT in Digital Entertainment

after completion of CDT study and sectors in which they are employed.

■■ CDT in Financial Computing & Analytics

■■ The ease for these individuals of

■■ CDT in Healthcare Innovation

securing post-doctoral employment.

■■ HighWire CDT

■■ The levels of innovation that CDT graduates felt they could apply within their first roles.

■■ CDT in Media & Arts Technology ■■ CDT in My Life in Data (Horizon) ■■ CDT in Web Science Innovation

Disciplines of first degrees held by CDT students on entry Subject

Cohort 1

Computer Science Engineering Management Design Social Sciences Arts Law Mathematics Languages Natural Sciences

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Cohort 2

30%

18%

33% 22% 4% 9% 7% 9% 11%

13%

11% 13% 4% 4% 0% 4% 0% 4% 0%

How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

4%

Years of previous work experience Number of years

Cohort 1 Cohort 2

None

7

Under 2 years

6

6

2-5 years

3

3

6-9 years

2

1

10-19 years

2

5

20-29 years

4

2

30+ years

2

1

0

Age bands of CDT students Age band

Cohort 1

Under 26

Cohort 2

3

26-29

0

8

30-39

10

9

40-49

5

2

50-59

3

2

60+

0

Rather not say

0 0

1

0

First job titles for Digital Economy CDT graduates Designer/Researcher User Experience Researcher

Consultant

Analyst

Director Teaching Assistant

Quantitative Analyst Research Assistant

Research Fellow Research Associate Teaching Fellow

Data Analyst

Technical Expert

Freelancer

Financial Trader

Co-Founder Business Researcher

Senior Lecturer

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First career destinations of CDT cohorts 1 and 2 50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% Sector Academic/University Self-employed/start-ups Private Sector Public Sector Third Sector/Other

Being a DE CDT student has enhanced my career prospects 16

12

8

4

0 Cohort 1 Yes

10

Cohort 2 Maybe

No

How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Yes

Maybe

No

Number of jobs applied for before securing first position

Cohort 1 Cohort 2 I was approached to apply

10

Only applied for current job 1 job

3

8

1

0

2 jobs

1

1

3 -4 jobs

1

2

5 -6 jobs

1

0

7-9 jobs

2

0

10+ jobs

1

0 0

To what extent first role met career aspirations Response Category 17%

26.5%

Cohort 1 56.5%

Slightly Moderately Response Category 33.5%

Significantly Cohort 2

66.5%

Slightly Moderately

Significantly

How innovative CDT students felt they could be in first job Response Category 17%

17%

Cohort 1

Response Category

66%

Slightly Moderately

55% Significantly

Moderately

Cohort 2 45% Significantly

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Broadening horizons: A career in human experience design at Microsoft Name: Dr Ewa Luger CDT: CDT in My Life in Data (Horizon), The University of Nottingham Cohort: 2009 (Cohort One) Graduated: With PhD in 2014 Research areas: Consent in ubiquitous computing systems, privacy, law, systems design,

ethical, experiential and socio-political implications Career destinations: Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham and Microsoft Research – Cambridge Current role: Post-Doc Researcher, Human Experience & Design Group, Microsoft Research Previous experience: Ewa joined the first Horizon CDT cohort with a background in political science, social technology and human security, together with a researchtrack Masters in International Relations from the University of Nottingham.

CDT research

Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge.

During her PhD, Ewa’s research focused on the reconfiguration of consent in ubiquitous computer systems, building upon wider research showing some weaknesses in current approaches to securing consent online. It questioned the extent to which such models could be transferred to more pervasive systems. Ewa also undertook an internship at Horizon Digital Economy Research at the University of Nottingham, working on an Open Data Master Class project, in collaboration with Ordnance Survey. Ewa’s role was to create links with third and public sectors, in order to fully engage those organisations.

Post-doctoral career destinations Immediately after finishing her PhD, Ewa secured employment as a Research Fellow in the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham. In September 2014, she was offered a Post-Doctoral Research Associate/ Fellow position at Microsoft Research (Cambridge), with a concurrent Fellowship at

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Current projects Ewa is now working internationally with researchers at Microsoft Research Redmond (United States), New York University and the Horizon Digital Economy Research Hub at the University of Nottingham to develop a set of privacy ideation cards, to support creative thought around privacy at the conceptual stages of design. The project explores practical implications, relationships between humans and agents, and resulting ethical, experiential and socio-political implications, in collaboration with lawyers and legal experts.

Impact on the Digital Economy Ewa’s research is strongly placed to have a global impact across various disciplines such as Data Protection, Privacy Law and System Design.

In May 2016, Ewa was an invited speaker and panel member at the 10th Annual Conference of the World Summit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in New York, United States.

How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Continuing Web Science innovation in academia Name: Dr Ramine Tinati CDT: Web Science CDT, University of Southampton Cohort: 2009 (Cohort One)

Graduated: With PhD in 2013 Research areas: Web Science Innovation, Social Machines, Citizen Science, Data Science Career destination: University of Southampton Current role: Senior Research Fellow, EPSRC-funded SOCIAM Project: The

“During my PhD I studied how the UK Open Government Data movement is improving the efficiency and transparency within government and with citizens”

theory and practice of Social Machines CDT research

Web systems (Social Machines), including

The growing reliance on the digital within

Twitter, Wikipedia, and Citizen Science

commerce and government, and how the

platforms such as Zooniverse and EyeWire.

growth of the web was shaping society from the everyday living of individuals, and their interaction with web services.

How CDT has benefitted career “The most important aspect during my PhD, and now, as a Senior Research Fellow, is

Post-Doctoral Career

being based within an interdisciplinary team

After completing his PhD in 2013, Ramine

of researchers. Given the complexity of the

gained employment initially as a Research

evolving digital economy landscape, working

Fellow at the University of Southampton

in an interdisciplinary team with a diverse

for the EPSRC-funded SOCIAM Project: The

collection of skills and backgrounds is essential.”

theory and practice of Social Machines, a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Southampton and Edinburgh, with project partners from industry and policy including Deloitte UK, Google, Microsoft, Home Office, Hampshire Constabulary and IBM.

Impact on the Digital Economy Ramine has disseminated his research widely on how the government has become more efficient, and how open data has become an important platform to enable the digital economy to expand. The production of

Current Projects

new data, which can be freely accessed, has

The SOCIAM Project undertakes broad

the potential to enrich existing streams of

integrated research, engaging with the

data, offering businesses the opportunity

research community in areas such as linked

to develop new services and products.

data, social sciences, personal data, mathematics, and social machines. Ramine’s role focuses on leading the development of technical platforms suitable for observing web systems at varying levels of granularity.

He has published work on new methods and metrics used to characterise different

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Health care innovation for Dementia at the University of Oxford Name: Dr John Vardakis CDT: Healthcare Innovation, University of Oxford Cohort: 2009 (Cohort One) Graduated: With PhD in 2014 Research areas: Integrative Cerebral Dynamics, Biomedical Engineering Career destination: University College London Current role: Post-Doctoral Researcher, Faculty of Engineering Science Previous Experience John Vardakis had completed a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Kings College London, and had experience of designing and constructing an environmentally sustainable desalination system in Fiji, prior to joining the CDT in Healthcare Innovation at Oxford. He also worked for brief periods in politics and hospitality, as well as shadowing researchers in surgical robotics at King's College London.

CDT Research

(which can ultimately lead to Alzheimer's).

John’s research focused on a global health

The VPH-DARE@IT project aims to addresses

priority for Dementia by looking at multi-

Dementia using computational modelling to

disciplinary innovation in developing new

study the behaviour of complex systems, and

diagnostic and modelling techniques. During

make predictions using computer simulations.

his PhD, he also managed computer-based laboratories and ran practical demonstrations for students, and consulted on the use of computational methods for vascular diagnosis (blood vessel disorders), and conducted product market research for a leading company in liquid repellent nano-coating technology.

CDT Benefits Completing a PhD within a CDT positively benefitted John's career via access to funding opportunities, skills and attributes of academic supervisors, and the social and networking aspects of the Centre. John says “Essentially, for me, the CDT provided a unique opportunity

Post-doctoral Career

develop a skill set that facilitated my evolving

Following his PhD in 2014, he immediately

interaction with the medical community”.

secured the position of Post-doctoral Research Associate at University College London, for the EU-funded VPH-DARE@ IT (Virtual Physiological Human: Dementia Research Enabled by IT) Project.

Impact on the Digital Economy As John’s research is focused on enabling earlier and more effective treatment of Dementia, the expected impact of the project will influence the scientific, clinical and industrial communities

Current Projects

globally to improve the healthcare of dementia

John has extended the mathematical model

patients. This will potentially improve quality of

created during his PhD (for patient-specificity),

life, reduce the burden on carers, and lower

and has incorporated how lifestyle and

the costs of supporting people with Dementia.

environmental factors potentially predispose individuals to Mild Cognitive Impairment

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How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Digital innovation and entrepreneurism at HighWire CDT Name: Dr John Hardy CDT: HighWire CDT, Lancaster University Cohort: 2009 (Cohort One) Graduated: With PhD in 2014 Research areas: Digital innovation, computer science, interactive projected displays

Career destinations: University spin-out and digital start-up Current role: Co-Founder & Director, Hardy & Ellis Inventions Ltd Previous experience: John graduated with a first class degree in Computer Science and had already concurrently founded and developed a Top 100 indie computer game prior to joining the HighWire CDT.

CDT research

CDT Benefits

John's research focused on developing

Being part of a CDT meant that John's

tools that help people construct, deploy,

entrepreneurism was backed by credible

and innovate with interactive projected

research and provided the opportunity to learn

displays and ubiquitous computing. This

key leadership and management skills from

included designing, implementing and

his academic supervisor who demonstrated

evaluating blue sky ideas and novel interactive

that “the best leaders create opportunities

systems, such as collaborative software

for those they lead”. Finding the right person

engineering workspaces, interactive office

to start a business with has also been critically

desks, augmented reality games, and an

important for John, someone who shared

interactive projected display toolkit.

the same passion and goals. Of this, John

Post-doctoral career John commercialised his doctoral research by co-founding Manchester-based spin out company Hardy & Ellis Inventions Ltd, together with fellow Lancaster University PhD student, Carl Ellis. The business specialises

says “although we have skills in common, we also have unique individual expertise that contributes to the business in differing ways. We received strong support from the CDT and university with finance, advice, and introductions to potential business contacts”.

in providing interactive projected displays

Impact on the Digital Economy

and programmable physical spaces. In 2014,

Hardy & Ellis have benefitted the local

Hardy & Ellis successfully pitched for an

and national economy by providing

Angel Investment Network investment and a

employment opportunities for sub-

£72,000 Innovate UK Digital Launchpad grant,

contractors who work with their business,

and in September 2015, H&E were named

as well as offering innovative and more

Duke of York Entrepreneur of the Week.

cost effective methods for interactive displays and software for physical spaces.

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Analytics superstars at University College London The CDT in Financial Computing and Analytics is a pioneering collaboration between the financial services industry and academia, established at University College London (UCL) in collaboration with the London School of Economics and Imperial College London. It has partnerships with 20 world leading financial service and data science institutions. Several CDT graduates from this Centre have now gone on to achieve global impact and thrive in the digital economy in a variety of ways.

Bridging the gap between data science and

modelling platform that allows companies and

software development: Simon Chan

researchers to post data in order for statisticians

During his PhD in Machine Learning, PhD Simon Chan, together with Thomas Stone, another PhD student at UCL, developed an open-source machine learning server platform, PredictionIO,

and data miners to compete to produce the best models for their data. Marios has led many analytics projects including the creation of a credit scoring graphical user interface.

a start-up which successfully attracted $2.5m

Enhancing systematic trading:

of seed funding in 2014 from various investors.

Sergio Alvarez-TeleĂąa

In February 2016, he sold PredictionIO to a global cloud computing customer relationship management company, and continues to share his success story with current CDT students at UCL as an alumni speaker.

After leaving industry to join academia, Sergio graduated from the Financial Computing CDT in 2014, after researching how systematic trading and machine learning can facilitate calibration advancements. The methodology

Driving consumer health engagement:

he developed as part of his PhD has achieved

Rodrigo Mazzora

innovative impact on industry by allowing

Rodrigo's research has achieved societal impact via the development of a health analytics platform, Tictrac. This mHealth innovation allows users to set and track personal activity goals and aims to deliver market-leading engagement for pioneering companies and organisations, helping to solve real underlying

a financial trader to enhance their online trading performance and user experience. This spin-out product is now being developed by a world-leading bank. Sergio is now Head of Global Strategies & Data Science at BBVA (a global retail financial group) and CEO at his start-up company, inSCIghts.

human problems that lead to better health.

World class Kaggling: Marios Michailidis Part-time CDT student Marios is in an elite group of data scientists, and currently stands second in a global league of 465,000 data scientists on Kaggle, an international predictive

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How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Entrepreneurism calls within the Horizon CDT Names: Martin Kruusimägi, Daniel Ratzinger, Matthew Terrell CDT: CDT in My Life in Data (Horizon), The University of Nottingham Cohort: 2011 (Cohort Three) Research areas: digital systems, interface design, user experience, digital entrepreneurism Career destination: Digital start-up Current roles: Co-Founders of Call for Participants Background: Not only can academic research result in successful spin-out companies, but it can also generate digital start-up opportunities from the research process itself.

This was the case for Horizon CDT students Daniel Ratziner, Matthew Terrell and Martin Kruusimägi, when they launched the innovative online platform Call for Participants in 2012, after meeting through working together as part of the same CDT cohort at the University of Nottingham. They decided to develop Call for Participants in a response to a need to find a new way to communicate research participation opportunities to a wider and more diverse public audience, beyond the reach of existing networks.

“The Call for Participants platform connects researchers with participants so as to improve the efficiency and accuracy of research trials” CDT Benefits

collaboratively with universities, charities, and

This success story highlights how a CDT

education sector leaders such as Jisc, and

environment can nurture a high-level of

the co-founders act as start-up mentors for

entrepreneurial confidence, and allow

students, including those involved in the

three individuals with significant expertise

Digital Economy YES event, which is organised

in product development, user experience,

by the Digital Economy Network and the

communications and technology to work

Nottingham University Business School.

together as a collective to develop a successful innovative enterprise. Call for Participants now has a strong international reach, with users from over 180 countries, involving researchers from over 400 universities worldwide, and more than 25,000 research participations now completed via the online platform.

Impact on the Digital Economy As the platform can more effectively connect researchers with participants, this facilitates improvement in the efficiency and accuracy of research trials. Call for Participants now works

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Animating the way to success at the Centre for Digital Entertainment Name: Alexandros Gouvatsos CDT: EPSRC CDT in Digital Entertainment, Bournemouth University Cohort: 2012 Research areas: Digital animation software, 3D characterisation Current role: CDT Research Engineer Based at: Hibbert Ralph Animation, London CDT research Alex Gouvatsos is a Research Engineer at the CDT in Digital Entertainment and is based at Hibbert Ralph Animation in London. He focuses on reducing the time and cost associated with previsualisation and pre-production of 3D animation. More specifically, Alex is working to develop an animation method that combines technology and traditional artistic sketching that is viable for both large and small studios.

"Alex's involvement in improving our 3D animation pipelines has helped us secure a Technology Strategy Board grant" Jerry Hibbert, Director – Hibbert Ralph Animation

Reconnecting indigenous cultures using animation in India Name: Dr Tara Douglas CDT: EPSRC CDT in Digital Entertainment, Bournemouth University Graduated: With PhD in 2015 Research areas: Animation tools

CDT Research

Impact on the Digital Economy

Animation as a tool for indigenous

As a result of Tara’s research, more young

representation was the focus of Tara’s practice-

artists are now involved in animation from

led research at the Digital Entertainment

indigenous culture contexts, using animation

CDT. She collaborated with specific local

to sustain narratives for future generations.

communities and used participatory film-

It is hoped that this research will also have

making practices to engage groups of

impact on government policy, so that support

indigenous artists and participants based

can be targeted at continuing this work.

in the North East and Central India to

Tara will be co-leading a Culture, Context

reinterpret a sample collection of their

and Mobile Technologies workshop at the

folktales into short animation films.

2016 Digital Economy Summer School with research students from the EPSRC CDT in Digital Civics at Newcastle University.

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How CDT students help us thrive in a digital world

Digital Economy CDT futures Summary CDTs are generally highly regarded by

“None of this would have been subsequent employers. There is evidence that possible without the CDT, and graduates are highly sought after for both their the pioneering approach of the hard and soft skills, achievements, interdisciplinary CDT Director� (CDT student) their student cohorts, their universities, and

awareness and their commitment to work.

This is demonstrated by a range of measures including stakeholder feedback, ease of obtaining employment, the number of successful entrepreneurial startups and influences on policy making. CDT students have also been successful in achieving recognition through research competition prizes, media coverage and internal and external grants, including the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Accounts, which are Research Council impact funding awards. It is still very early days in assessing the full benefits and potential of CDT graduates, since the first cohorts only graduated in 2014, but the results are already looking extremely positive.

Further ongoing analysis and career tracking of digital economy CDT alumni across Universities will provide us with further evidence of the impact of CDT training, and demonstrate how we can continue to grow talent to thrive in the digital economy.

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For further information, please contact: Digital Economy Network t: +44 (0) 115 7484753 e: den@nottingham.ac.uk w: www.den.ac.uk @decdtnetwork