Stop Breeding Unicorns

More and more data scientists are feeling the pressure to be experts in all areas, from programming and cleaning data to visualisation, promotion, project management and even public engagement.

Unless you are a unicorn who can expertly lead in all areas, a more efficient and effective pathway would be to adjust the incentive structure to allow for teams of experts in those domains to work together.

This session will showcase how this attitude needs to be changed and how, by relying on teams to work together, we can ensure research excellence.

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This presentation was given by Kirstie Whitaker at AI UK 2023: the UK’s national showcase of data science and artificial intelligence (AI) on 21 March 2023.

Hosted by The Alan Turing Institute, AI UK 2023 will be an in-depth exploration of how data science and AI can be used to solve real-world challenges. Our diverse programme has been thematically structured around the UK Government’s Office for Science and Technology Strategy’s priorities. With a broad range of interactive content, expect to hear the latest thinking on digital twins, algorithmic bias and AI ethics.

https://ai-uk.turing.ac.uk

Useful links

• Tools, Practices and Systems Research Programme at the Alan Turing Institute: https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-programmes/tools-practices-and-systems
• The Turing Way book: https://the-turing-way.netlify.com
• The Turing Way GitHub repository: https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/the-turing-way
• The Turing Way newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/TuringWay