Meet our new Group Champions!

Published on February 10, 2026

For the first time in The Data Lab Community, we’ve appointed dedicated Group Champions to help us lead and grow our community groups.

Our Champions are volunteers from the community who will host events, support other members and help shape activity across our groups.

You can learn more about our new Group Champions below!

📚 Education Group

Jamie Laycock is Head of Biology and AI Lead at The Glasgow Academy, where he works with teachers and students to integrate artificial intelligence into classroom practice in ethical and pedagogically grounded ways. His work focuses on using generative AI to enhance questioning, feedback and learner independence while maintaining academic integrity. He collaborates with universities and education organisations across Scotland and internationally, including work with the University of Glasgow and the HMC AI & EdTech Working Group, supporting responsible AI adoption in education.

David Hiddleston is Curriculum Team Manager for Digital & Data Skills and Mathematics & Numeracy at Edinburgh College, with nearly 30 years’ experience across colleges and universities. He leads digital and data capability development through the Data Driven Innovation Skills Gateway Project as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. He also serves as a Qualification Verifier with Qualifications Scotland, supporting high standards in Computer Science and Data Science qualifications.

🌍 Third Sector Group

Chantel Davies is a Data Scientist and Analyst at Crohn’s & Colitis UK, where she leads analytical work within the Evidence & Insight programme. Her work spans health inequalities, quality of life research and epidemiological analysis to support policy and advocacy. With a background across academia, the third sector and public sector, she specialises in building robust data pipelines and research databases using SQL, R and Python.

Vincent Bryson is CEO of Scottish Curling and a strong advocate for the strategic use of data and digital technology in sport. With a background in the Royal Navy and project leadership at Scottish Water, he has spent the last decade supporting organisations to strengthen data literacy and digital capability. He completed The Data Lab’s Data Leadership programme and is committed to helping the sporting sector become more data driven and analytically confident.

Roger Halliday is CEO of Research Data Scotland and former Chief Statistician for Scotland. He has led national data strategy across government, including serving as Scottish Government Chief Data Officer and co-leading the Covid Analytical Team. An honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow, Roger is focused on improving public wellbeing through better use of data in research, innovation and insight.

👩‍💻 Women in Data & AI Group

Laura Ewing is a senior data engineer with over 12 years’ experience building scalable data platforms across multiple sectors. She works across modern data ecosystems including Snowflake, Azure and Databricks, translating complex datasets into clear, practical insight. Alongside her technical leadership, Laura has chaired and co-chaired several Women in Technology initiatives, championing visibility and progression for women in data.

💼 Financial Sector Group

Abhishek Singh works in financial services technology consulting, specialising in AI and data initiatives within complex, regulated environments. He has led engineering teams across banking, healthcare and the UK public sector, supporting organisations to build reliable, well governed data and AI platforms. He is particularly motivated by promoting responsible innovation and meaningful knowledge sharing across the financial sector.

Dr Konrad Zdeb is Data Science Lead in Fraud at NatWest, where he designs and deploys machine learning models across real-time banking journeys. With over a decade of experience in UK financial services, he specialises in fraud detection, risk management and production-grade decision systems. He holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and writes regularly about applied data science, experimentation and engineering practice.

🎓 Student Group

Irshad Sareshwala is a Data Science student at the University of Glasgow and a graduate of IIT Madras. He is driven by a belief that data should create meaningful real-world impact and is passionate about building strong, collaborative student communities. As Student Group Champion, he aims to bring curious minds together through conversation, peer learning and practical problem solving.

Interested in becoming a Group Champion? Head to our jobs board for more info about available roles!

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