Welcome to the September 2026 Data Study Group

Bringing together top talent from data science, artificial intelligence, and wider fields, to analyse real-world challenges

Thank you for joining us at the September 2026 Data Study Group. 

A Data Study Group is a collaborative sprint style research activity that brings together some of the country’s top talent from data science, artificial intelligence, and wider fields, to analyse real-world data science challenges. 

The Data Study Group will run over two-weeks.

Stage 1: The Precursor Stage (part-time, online)

• The precursor stage will last one week in the run up to the event stage (Monday 7 - Friday 11 September 2026).
• Online workshops / presentations / team building in order to prepare for the event stage. 

Stage 2: The Event Stage (full-time, in person)

• The event stage will run over one week (Monday 14 - Friday 18 September 2026).
• Group work begins and continues throughout.

Objectives

The objectives of the Data Study Group are twofold:

• The challenge: To simply explore the challenge in any way you participants see fit (within the framework of the challenge description). Remember while revealing possible novel solutions or directions for further research would be fantastic, there are no expectation to return positive results. Finding out what doesn't work can be just as valuable!
• The Alan Turing Institute: We run Data Study Groups so that you as participants have the opportunity to put knowledge into practice to solve real-world problems collaboratively. Provided you learn something during this experience and have fun doing so, our objectives have been met!

Outputs

By the end of the event your group will:

• Give a 15-minute presentation (followed by questions).
• Submit a report of the work undertaken.

Background

The September 2026 Data Study Group is brought to you by The Alan Turing Institute, the national centre for data science and artificial intelligence. 

We break down disciplinary boundaries; at the Turing, computer scientists, engineers, statisticians, mathematicians, and social scientists under one shared goal, with no departmental boundaries. We are a collaborative hub, with roots in universities and centres of research excellence across the UK, and strong links to a growing network of industry, public sector, and third sector partners. Our researchers are motivated by driving impact, both through theoretical development and application to real-world problems.