The Lab returns from a fantastic two days at the latest Digital Footprints conference!
Hosted at the University of Leeds, the event brought together nearly 100 attendees from academia, government, industry, and third sector organisations, collectively showcasing their research and strengthening this ever-growing community.
We’re incredibly proud that our lab members played such a central role – co-organising the conference (shout-out to Anya, Neo, and Romana!), running workshops, giving flash talks, and presenting posters on our current projects. A huge well done to everyone involved!
Day One: Workshops, Flash Talks, and a Warm Welcome
Kicking things off, Anya delivered welcoming remarks alongside conference co-founder Michelle Morris – a great way to set the tone for what turned out to be a packed and inspiring event.
Early on the first day, Neo and Laura led a workshop discussing and exemplifying the concept of data donation, using a visualisation tool developed by Laura and Huw to highlight the insights we can gather from shopping data. Meanwhile, Romana gave a talk in a session hosted by GovLab, showcasing a range of lab projects and drawing comparisons to the work being carried out by GovLab.
We also heard from Joe Cuddeford, Director of Smart Data Research UK, who gave an exciting overview of their work to bring together and standardise digital footprints research across the country.
The afternoon saw the first set of flash talks, where Alice presented our collaboration with We the Curious, focusing on how public engagement can enhance research practice. We heard some other fantastic talks centred on tracking loneliness from mental health forums, some applications of finance data for health, and using transaction data to track management of bacterial vaginosis, among more!
The day wrapped up with a lovely conference dinner – full of great food, conversation, and plenty of valuable connections.
Day Two: Posters, Plenaries, and a Panel
Day 2 hosted a range of exciting plenary speakers. Michael Sinclair (University of Glasgow) opened with a fascinating talk on the power of geospatial data in health research. Cathy Capelin from the British Nutrition Foundation followed with some fresh perspectives on how shopping data can be used to evaluate nutrition interventions in retail settings. Finally, Hannu Koivisto, a biomedical engineer from ŌURA, gave an insightful industry take on the role of wearable data in advancing health research.
Our lab was out in full force during the poster tours. In the first session, Laura and Huw showcased their work developing a visualisation tool for shopping data, demonstrating how this kind of data can be made accessible and insightful!
Neo then presented his innovative research linking pain, shopping patterns, labour statistics, and survey data to understand workplace attendance.
The second poster session included an exciting moment for the lab: Romana won a prize for her brilliant poster on tracking seasonal laxative purchases as a proxy for weight-loss behaviours. She also presented Poppy’s work on demographic predictors of consent to share shopping data in a longitudinal study.
Alisha rounded out the tour with her scoping review of how shopping data has been used in health research to date – a super useful resource for future studies.
To round off a fantastic conference, Neo co-chaired an engaging ECR panel, inviting four speakers to reflect on their academic journeys, how they balance research with teaching and other responsibilities, and how they are working towards gaining the skills to advance their careers. It was an honest and insightful session – a fitting close to a thoughtful and forward-looking conference.
We’re incredibly proud of everyone who contributed, presented, or supported behind the scenes. It was so rewarding to see our work resonating with others, and to be part of such an open and conversational atmosphere.
The conference proceedings with all published abstracts will be available soon – so watch this space !
