We have two new undergraduate Data Science courses, one with Artificial Intelligence and the other with Business Management, starting this September! Hear about Craig’s journey to learn more about career possibilities.
PhD and Research Assistant Craig shares how he became interested in pursuing a career in data science and how studying at RGU has prepared him for his research around Artificial Intelligence.
My path to Data Science
Hello! I’m Craig, a Ph.D. student with a particular interest in eXplainable AI (XAI). In 2018, while still in my hometown of Alford (just outside of Aberdeen), I came to RGU from NESCol through Degree Link.
As an aspiring software developer, the BSc (Hons) Computing Science: Application Software Development course was a great fit for me. However, during my studies we were introduced to machine learning and AI which piqued my interest and I quickly realised that I wanted a career in data science.
I was fascinated by how we could teach a computer to carry out human-like actions such as recognise objects in images or hold realistic conversations. I was taken by how optimisation algorithms could improve every-day life.
After my 3rd year work placement at an energy company, I got the opportunity to work on a real-world project for my dissertation which was to automate the corrosion inspection process of subsea pipelines. The project was challenging but very rewarding and was awarded the ScotlandIS Young Software Engineer of the Year “Best Engineering Project” prize – later being recognised in parliament and featuring in the proceedings of an academic conference.
Studying at RGU
Naturally, my experience led me to continue my studies towards the MSc Data Science qualification. The course allowed me to dive deeper into data science and sharpen my toolset in AI, gaining exposure to tools and practices used in industry. Terms such as “Data Mining” and “Data Warehousing” transitioned from being out-of-reach buzzwords to useful concepts as we learned how to collect data and extract meaningful patterns from it.
Following my interest in the applications of data science in engineering domains, my MSc project looked at Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) as a tool for creating new designs of concept cars. This was just before the boom of generative AI, so it was particularly exciting so study the effectiveness of the technology in real-world scenarios.
How RGU prepared me for my career
Studying data science at RGU lay a solid foundation for my current career as a Research Assistant and for my Ph.D. studies in ensemble XAI strategies. My research looks at how to increase the transparency of the decisions made by complex “black box” systems such as neural networks by making use of multiple XAI explainers.
Without that aforementioned foundation, I believe my time as a doctoral student would be far more challenging. It prepared me for working on some challenging projects such as: building a healthcare chatbot to diagnose muscoskeletal (MSK) problems in patients and reduce the workload for physios; automating a smart mini-grid energy system in Sri Lanka; and developing an explanation-as-a-service (EaaS) XAI platform as part of the iSee project.
Data Science: A world of opportunities
The importance of AI has become increasingly evident, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-driving cars are no longer a thing of fiction, the discovery of vaccines has been accelerated and it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the fake AI-generated content from the real.
Data Science offers so many roles, you could become a Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Data Engineer or Database Manager. And the demand is only rising. If it’s something you are interested in, I would highly recommend enrolling on one of RGU’s Data Science courses!
Craig Pirie
We have two new undergraduate courses starting this year:
BSc (Hons) Data Science with Artificial Intelligence.
BSc (Hons) Data Science with Business Management.
Apply now to be part of our first cohort and maybe follow in Craig’s footsteps!
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