The University of Essex is helping Suffolk County Council transform policy making through better use of data.

As part of a major strategic partnership project Dr Aris Perperoglou, from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, delivered training on predictive modelling to council staff.

Dr Perperoglou said: “The partnership between Suffolk County Council and the University of Essex is built around the belief that policy making can been transformed in the era of data and take advantage of statistical modelling and predictive techniques. It was really great to deliver the training and talk about current issues, especially in a crowd of professionals that have to shape policies in an uncertain environment.”

The session introduced participants to risk and predictive modelling, methods that can be used with their existing data and knowledge to help identify risks. This helps predict which public services have areas of higher need to encourage evidence based policy making.

Richard Selwyn, Assistant Director Commissioning, Suffolk County Council said that he was delighted to be working with the University and to be bringing the expertise of Dr Perperoglou into Suffolk County Council to help bring evidence based research into policy making.

The training was part of the Catalyst Project, which provides a unique opportunity to bring together the University's world leading expertise in data sharing and data analytics with Essex and Suffolk County Council's strength in policy innovation.

A number of initial pilot areas where this type of approach can be applied have already been identified. The work will continue to further embed the University of Essex as an anchor in the community which supports the strategic aims of the Catalyst Project.