Now we have transitioned to the Edinburgh Futures Institute, we thought it would be a good time to reintroduce you to the faces behind the Collaborative! Have a read about what our small but mighty team get up to on a day-to-day basis and what they’re most excited about for the Collaborative this year.

Alex Hutchison

Director

What are your main responsibilities at the Collaborative?

My role within the team is to make sure that the Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF is delivering its core purpose - using data responsibly to improve outcomes for every child - by overseeing and managing the day-to-day activities. I listen to the strategic direction given by our board members and I implement plans to deliver our goals. I am responsible for; driving our projects to be impactful, managing our financial position (including bringing in funding), ensuring our practices are robust (and therefore our project outputs can be trusted), nurturing our relationships with our delivery partners, and managing and developing our staff.

What does a typical working day look like for you?

A typical working day involves countless meetings with a range of people across the globe on a broad spectrum of topics. Some of these meetings might be about the strategic approach to a project to balance science and politics while others might be about what infrastructure to use to host project outputs or how do we source data in a sustainable way for long term impact, such as satellite imagery, or walking through a legal contract for a collaboration project. Some days might also involve workshops to build collaborative teams, the building of relationships with new strategic partners or attending conferences to understand from others what’s emerging in the world of data. As a small team we work very closely together, and have to be very agile in doing so, to make sure our projects are appropriate, delivering and impactful. No two days are ever the same!

What are you most excited about for the Collaborative this year?

There is so much to look forward to with the Data for Collaborative with UNICEF for the next year! I am really looking forward to seeing some more projects delivering their outputs for our delivery partners. That is after all why we’re in our job! I am also really looking forward to our (COVID style virtual) move to our new home at Edinburgh Futures Institute and learning more from our new colleagues there on what they’re working on, how they work and getting some new ideas and inspiration to inject into our work. We’re also growing the team this year, so I really look forward to welcoming new staff into our fantastic team.

Fraser Macdonald

Head of Delivery and Innovation

What are your primary responsibilities at the Collaborative?

My primary responsibility is to ensure that we continue to deliver innovative solutions that improve outcomes for children globally. To do this, I look at how we identify challenges and develop methods to bring together the right mix of expertise to deliver results. Another significant part of my role is looking internally at the Collaborative and considering how we as an organisation can think outside the box and develop an innovative delivery framework that meets our strategic objectives. 

What does a typical working day look like for you?

Meetings! My day can go from negotiating the challenges of building a global climate index to workshopping tools that support youth participation across our portfolio. We have a small team that works closely together across all our activity. One of the best parts of my job is the breadth of expertise, knowledge and experience I work with daily – there is never a dull moment!

What are you most excited about for the Collaborative this year?

We are developing so many aspects of the Data for Children Collaborative and challenging the paradigm for how collaborative projects are designed and delivered. This year, I'm most excited about our Data Partner Network's growth and their input on future projects. The Collaborative acts as a catalyst for cross-sector collaboration, and exploring opportunities to bring together major data providers with the expertise to improve outcomes for children is exciting!

Alessandra Fassio

Advocacy and Relations Manager

What are your main responsibilities at the Collaborative?

My role looks after our Responsible Innovation framework, which helps us to ensure that we are delivering projects both in the right way and for the right reasons. I focus on the ethics, safeguarding and youth participation aspects of the framework which, at their core, help us to keep children’s rights and interests at the forefront of all of our activity. In addition to this I lead on the communications outputs for the Collaborative across a variety of channels and media types.

What does a typical working day look like for you?

I don’t think there is such a thing as a typical day at the Collaborative – but that’s what makes the job so exciting and challenging! Lots of my time is devoted to attending project meetings with our global partners to support them in completing the various Responsible Innovation controls required. This might mean having a deep-dive discussion about potential ethical issues, facilitating safeguarding training sessions or brainstorming the most appropriate youth participation methods for a project. You might also find me creating interesting brand graphics for our website or writing blogs and thought pieces across a wide range of topics. I have capitalised on the fact that the pandemic has forced many events online this year and often attend online webinars, conferences and panel events to expand my knowledge and learn about what’s going on in the data ethics space.

What are you most excited about for the Collaborative this year?

The Collaborative has a pretty exciting year up ahead. With a number of new projects underway and a move to Edinburgh Futures Institute, we’re definitely keeping our foot on the gas! I’m excited to begin to see the outputs of some of our existing projects come to life and be used by our partners on the ground to make a real positive impact on children’s lives. I’m also looking forward to facing new opportunities now we are part of Edinburgh Futures Institute. Being more embedded within the university, it will be great to see how we can start to interact more with the student population and tap into the talent available. I started with the Collaborative as a student and would love to see how we can help others on their journey!

Viviana Cañón Tamayo

Data Innovation Project Manager

What are your main responsibilities at the Collaborative?

Supporting the achievements of core objectives of data innovations projects in which UNICEF participate. Making sure our projects are demand driven and have the potential to impact. Working with UNICEF data teams and support/guide on getting projects from very early concept to articulated prototype.

What does a typical working day look like for you?

Mondays are for planning: what needs to be done? How can we do better? During the week, most of the meetings are in the morning (this is not bad because I am a morning person). Afternoons are more to get things done and have short meetings with colleagues at UNICEF to track progress of their projects. I support projects on access to talent and data, the use of infrastructure and sometimes funding. New ideas of projects from UNICEF colleagues come to me and we work with the Collaborative to support the feasibility and development of this ideas.

What are you most excited about for the Collaborative this year?

Ensuring impact in every project with do. Making sure our projects are demand driven. Finding new ways to collaborate for immediate needs (humanitarian) or long-term projects.

Iain Cartwright

Funding Officer

What are your main responsibilities at the Collaborative?

As Funding Officer I work as part of the DCC team and with its partners to generate bids and proposals for resources and support, both for the organisation and across its portfolio of projects. Prospective funders range across Research Institutes; Corporates and Trusts & Foundations. My work involves researching and updating intelligence about potential funders; liaising with UNICEF and UoE colleagues; identifying and matching funders to appropriate prospects and then working with partners to develop tailored, specific proposals and then ensure bids are submitted in a timely and relevant manner.

What does a typical working day look like for you?

It’s difficult to outline a typical working day for me at present as I only joined DCC in June and that on a one day a week basis. Even from 1 August, when I moved to a 2.5 days per week basis but it would be true to say that I haven’t got into a routine yet. At present I am embedding myself in the organisation and getting to understand how best I can work with colleagues to help it achieve its aims.

What are you most excited about for the Collaborative this year?

Simply being part of such an incredible team doing such important work is something that personally inspires me. At present its hard to say what excites me most about the projects and the organisation - being so new to it. Though with COP21 imminent, the Climate Change work seems very pertinent as this crucial world event approaches.