We are delighted to share that a team of students from both UCL and UCL School of Management finished in third place at the recent Analytics for Society Awards held in London. A joint initiative between students from Imperial College London Business School, Ghandi Centre for Inclusive Innovation and UCL School of Management, the event celebrated the contributions of data and analytics to the wider society.
Established in 2022, Analytics for Society Award brings together a community of academics, entrepreneurs, students and industry experts to encourage the use of analytics, optimisation and visualisation tools to address societal changes. Sponsored by the Institute of Analytics and INFORMS, this year’s event was organised by students from UCL School of Management and Imperial College London Business School (Laotan Faji, Emily Peters, Elena Lickel, Margaux Drochon, Dilani Antonvijayakumar, and Jacques Lin).
To participate in this event, teams were asked to submit a five-minute video that included a brief summary demonstrating how data visualisation tools and/or advanced analytical techniques can be used to:
- Explore issues threatening, and opportunities contributing to, one or a combination of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals (SDGs)
- Address these issues and/or explain the impact of these opportunities using data analytics, and
- Communicate the findings to a wider audience effectively and creatively.
Teams were then curated through internal and external review, with the finalists being invited to pitch their ideas to a panel of research and industry experts. The evening also consisted of keynote speeches from Aura Popa, Senior Director of Analytics & AI at Gartner, Laura Gilbert, Head of AI for Government at Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford and Karl Simons, Co-Founder and Chief Futurist at Fyld, who shared their industry experience and expertise on AI, analytics and its impact within the business world. Upon deliberating, the judges selected three winning teams who would receive a share of the cash prize.
First place was awarded to Alia Friedman who established Presenting Student Dropout. Open to a global audience, Alia used analytics to help identify at-risk students who are on the verge of dropping out of further educational studies, as well as offer targeted interventions to counteract this. Second place was awarded to Matthew Lee, Jinwei Shi, Saffan Firdaus and Yidan Xu, for RES. Through the use of hyperlocal pollen data, RES helps to predict and prevent allergic reactions to pollen.
Finally, third place was awarded to UCL School of Management and University College London students Rania Azzahra, Hanin Fairuz Salsabila and Oktaviani Saputri for MaternEASE. MaternEASE is a smart ring that tracks maternal health to detect early pregnancy risks. The tool combines real-time vital sign monitoring with AI-driven risk prediction to ensure complications are identified and managed efficiently, hoping to save lives before it’s too late.
Available to Indonesian residents, including those who reside in rural and underserved areas, the tool is designed to provide timely alerts and data insights to healthcare workers and offer remote expert advice from an Obstetrician Gynecologist. The trio behind MaternEASE, met through a Indonesian Government Scholarship programme and shared the same passion for the health care system, specifically in Indonesia.
With an educational focus on Business Analytics and Global Healthcare Management, the trio were “immediately drawn to the Analytics for Society Award and its mission, of using analytics for social good” and saw it as an opportunity to showcase an idea that would be a gamechanger for the Indonesian community.
Looking ahead, the trio intend to develop MaternEASE further to implement and support its mission and to save the lives of mothers.
Laotan Faji, President of the Analytics for Society Award Committee commented, “I was uplifted by the quality of the solutions presented to some of our deepest challenges, and the innovative spirit displayed by my fellow students is a testament to our potential to reshape our future.
Equally inspiring was the collaboration between industry and public sector leaders and institutions; Imperial and UCL, two powerhouses that have chosen to work together for the greater good, along with the IOA and INFORMS finding common ground, demonstrated that when we join forces, we can achieve extraordinary outcomes. I look forward to watching some of these budding enterprises grow into full-scale operations, delivering meaningful impact where it is needed most.”
Find out more about the annual Analytics for Society Award event.
