The conference proceedings can be found here.
Wednesday 14th May – Thursday 15th May 2025, University of Leeds
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.
This year we also secured sponsorship from Smart Data Research UK, the Consumer Lab, the Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service, The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Bristol Jean Golding Institute.
Plenary talks were delivered by Prof Michelle Morris and Anya Skatova, illustrating their motivation for founding the Digital Footprint community and conference through their research; Joe Cuddeford of Smart Data Research UK setting up how the UK is to become a world leader in smart data for public good; Hannu Koivisto from ŌURA in Finland discussing ‘From Sensor to Science: How ŌURA Transforms Wearable Data into Breakthrough Health Insights’ and Cathy Capelin from the British Nutrition Foundation championing the Power of Partnerships.
Day One Highlights
Workshops:
- Interactive sessions introducing data donation concepts;
- Demonstrations of tools for visualising and interpreting shopping data;
- Discussions on how digital footprint research aligns with public-sector innovation.
Flash talks:
- Public engagement approaches;
- Mental health insights from online forums;
- Applications of financial and transaction data in health research;
- Novel uses of retail data to track health-related behaviours.
Day Two Highlights
Poster Sessions, including:
- Tools for making shopping data accessible and interpretable;
- Research linking digital traces with health, labour, and behavioural insights;
- Studies using retail data to understand population behaviours;
- Reviews of how shopping data has been applied in health research.
An ECR Panel Discussion:
An early‑career researcher panel closed the conference, reflecting on academic pathways, balancing responsibilities, and developing skills for future careers.
A blog post summarising the labs role in the conference can be found here.