We are over the moon to kick off our third Data For Good Program!
From 75 applicants and 35 interviews, we’re thrilled to announce that our third cohort is our biggest yet consisting of 28 individuals.The quality and caliber of candidates we had in this round was phenomenal and we’re so excited to welcome these driven, passionate individuals into the GDI community.
Who are the talented professionals taking part in the program?
The individuals taking part in our H2 Data For Good Program span across Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, UK and Paraguay(!) and include data scientists, engineers and business analysts.
Representing Aotearoa, New Zealand we have Kerrie O'Hara Pepper, Jojo Mepham, Anurag Ray, Jason Tran, and Jiro Ishida.
In Australia we have 21 data professionals, consisting of Chloe Lin, Owen Forbes, David Cole, Joseph Gulay, Krishna Nadoor, Laith Saeed, Liangyue Wendy Wang, Piers Gillett, Avani Bhojwani, William Ye, Ariadna Recasens, Chenelle Tanglao, Duncan Villanueva, Eleanor Mare, Jay Tay, Wesley Harfield, Derek Ka-Ho Wong, Mary Wu, Berta Karaim, Anisa Istadi and Thien Bui.
Across the world, Paridhi K and Ana Merlo, round out our cohort from the United Kingdom and Paraguay, respectively!
Each and every data analytics professional within our third cohort was elected based on their data analytics proficiency, humility, passion, resilience, commitment to social impact and their passion to engage with the GDI community.
What’s included in the Data4Good Program?
The Data For Good program is a carefully crafted program to supercharge the most ambitious, socially minded and talented data scientists and data analysts in Australia and New Zealand.
The program runs for 12 weeks and consists of masterclasses on data skills, social events, the ability to meet amazing data professionals within the GDI community, and last but not least our hackathon!
Masterclasses include topics such as learning how to build a career in social impact from incredible social entrepreneurs, to practical workshops on how to mitigate algorithmic bias in the development of machine learning tools. Each class has been developed for helping data practitioners apply their tools in the NFP sector, as well as up-skilling in building responsible data tools.
Our hackathon this year is in partnership with Skin Check Champions. This Sydney-based organisation focuses on the early detection and prevention of skin cancer. According to Cancer Australia, 2/3 Australians are likely to get some form of skin cancer before the age of 75. Melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, kills an average of five Aussies every day – 12 times more per capita than any other country.
Via our Data For Good program, our 28 talented data analytics experts will work on an 8-week hackathon with Skin Check Champions to devise a data strategy, pioneer a National Skin Check Registry and raise the profile of this important cause.
You can learn more about Skin Check Champions and our hackathon by listening to our kick off call here!
Community Insights
Berta Karaim
"When my coworker sent me the link to the Data for Good program, I couldn't believe my luck -- an opportunity to grow my data analytics skills, network with others in the field AND contribute to social good all at once! This was exactly what I was looking for, but didn't know could exist in one place!"
"As someone for whom English is an additional language (and is a bit of an introvert), I could not have imagined that networking could be so easy and enjoyable. It is so energising to collaborate with people who share my passion and values!"
Jojo Mepham
“My journey into the realm of data is quite new. I came from working in Fundraising for a not-for-profit and just became a little bit obsessed with data analytics and the power it provided to the organisation in increasing revenue and reach to those who were accessing their services, I recently completed a web dev bootcamp and have no data background (apart from my very entry level and self taught experience) and reached out to someone after I finished the bootcamp who encouraged me to apply (despite me thinking I am definitely not qualified for this).”
“The motivation for me is really about providing creative, sustainable and affordable data solutions to not-for-profits to increase productivity and revenue. I've seen first hand the limitations in the non-profit space and the struggle to find technical people who are empathetic and conscious of the needs of a non-profit. I know the power that data can have and really want to encourage more nonprofits to see it as something that is attainable rather than a dream of something they could have if they had more money and resources.”
Owen Forbes
“I joined GDI because I’m passionate about data science as a translational tool to improve the effort-to-impact ratio in different domains including prosocial organisations and not-for-profits. There is so much exciting scope for data science to be a bridging tool between technical specialists and subject matter experts to turn organisational data collections into impact and practical outcomes.”
“So far the GDI experience has been excellent - such a welcoming and friendly collective of data professionals who give a crap and want to use their powers for good! The learning and development seminars have had interesting content for up-skilling and I’m stoked about starting to work with our team on the Skin Check Champions hackathon.”
Kerrie O'Hara Pepper
“Community is a big motivator for me. Data4Good gives me the chance to connect with creative, passionate people from across the data realm, and contribute to organisations that are caring for our people and planet.”