Royal Society appoints Entrepreneur in Residence to drive innovation in Southampton data science

Data scientist Dr Adam Hill will help develop new enterprise skills and technologies within Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton through The Royal Society’s Entrepreneur in Residence scheme.

The Southampton alumnus, a lead data scientist at the HAL24K data intelligence research lab, will share real-world experience with staff and students over the next two years as he helps foster an entrepreneurial culture and prepares industry-ready graduates.

He is one of 19 enterprising businesspeople appointed to spend 20 percent of their working time in residence at UK universities. Dr James Otter, Director of Ellipson Ltd, will also be based at the University of Southampton through the scheme, offering his support to the Faculty of Medicine.

“I am thrilled and honoured to have been selected by The Royal Society to be one of the first recipients of the new Entrepreneurs in Residence programme,” Adam says. “I hope that it gives me the opportunity to build bridges between the institution at which I completed my PhD training and the industry in which I currently work.”

Professor Jonathan Flynn, Head of Physics and Astronomy, says, “We are delighted that Adam has been appointed as one of the first of The Royal Society's Entrepreneurs in Residence. Adam will use his real-world expertise in data-science, built on top of his own academic background, to help us maximise the impact of departmental research based on analysing and learning from large data volumes. An important part of his work will be to help PhD students and early career researchers pursue careers in the knowledge economy where their skills are in high demand.”

Adam completed a PhD within the Southampton Astronomy Group in 2005, having worked with the European Space Agency’s INTEGRAL team on surveying the gamma-ray sky. His international research career included projects at France’s Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, and a return to Physics and Astronomy at Southampton, before he ventured into data science at HAL24K.

“The skills and techniques that physicists need to develop to do their science can also be used within the community to have direct impact with groups that would not normally have access to those skillsets,” Adam adds. “We are witnessing the fourth industrial revolution where ‘data is the new oil’ and this is producing new technologies that can be used by scientists to do better science, but is also enabling those scientists who enhance those skills to go forth and innovate beyond the academic world.”