Find a Data Champion

Ali is Senior Data Scientist and public-health/transport modeller in the Public Health Modelling (PHM) group at the MRC-Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. He is interested in active travel, specifically cycling research. 

Coming from a Computer Science background, with a focus on modelling in his PhD, for over a decade, he has been doing data-driven research and development. This includes Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), Statistical Modelling (or Machine Learning), Interactive Visualization, all with a focus on collaborative, transparent and reproducible research. In addition, he leads in project management and managing, training, guiding, and teaching of junior staff in his Unit. His work can be seen on GitHub at https://github.com/usr110.

I work in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, with a strong focus on research data management, reproducible analysis, and open science practices. Before training in cognitive neuroscience, I was educated in computer science and trained as a systems analyst, which continues to shape how I approach research data, workflows, and computational methods. In my current work, I focus on brain imaging data, including data organisation in BIDS (Brain Imaging Data Structure), preprocessing and analysis pipelines, and the development of practical training materials to support researchers in using modern computational tools and adopting good data practices.

Additional areas of expertise:

Plant science, Quantitative genetics.