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Data Science students perform data challenge for London Metropolitan Police

Published: 13th June 2022 Last updated: 14th June 2022

Students of the Joint Bachelor Data Science learn to connect theory to practice in three 'Data Challenge' courses. For these courses, students carry out a group project in which they work with real data, talk to real stakeholders and work on a real problem. This year, for Data Challenge 2, second year students worked with real data from the London Metropolitan Police.

Divided into teams, the students were instructed to translate a stakeholder problem into a data science problem and give a presentation about it. The two best-performing teams were given the unique opportunity to travel to London to give their presentation directly to the stakeholders, namely the senior decision makers of the London Metropolitan Police whose policies have real implications and matter every day.

A total of eleven students, accompanied by the lecturer and support staff, travelled to the Metropolitan Police's headquarters in New Scotland Yard to meet with the strategic heads in the areas of data analytics, violent crime, and public protection, among others. The students’ presentation "Predicting UK police force demand" was received with great interest and enthusiasm. Among the audience were commanders responsible for counter-terrorism in the UK who, given their busy schedules, are not easily brought to the table. Hence, it was a lasting experience for the students that will certainly have fueled their enthusiasm for future data challenge projects.

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