In collaboration with Allstate Northern Ireland, Women in Technology at Allstate Northern Ireland and Women Who Code Belfast, we're pleased to announce our March meet-up will be celebrating Women in Data.

We have some fantastic speakers, followed by a panel discussion on Women in Data.

On the night, we will have two £25 Amazon vouchers up for grabs, sponsored by Allstate Northern Ireland for the best social media posts. Details of this competition will be announced at the start of the event!

Details of talks confirmed to date:
Topic: Developing a Financial Wellbeing Tool for Survivors of Domestic Violence

Sarah and Jaclyn Harron (also MARA) co-led on a project, in partnership with the Allstate Foundation, to develop a financial wellbeing tool for survivors of domestic violence.
A key aim of this project was to provide the foundation with a robust and reliable way of measuring financial wellbeing for survivors of domestic violence. This would enable them to measure the success of the programs and initiatives that they invest in, as well as to identify particular groups of women who may need more support in the future. While there are similar tools which measure financial wellbeing in the general population, none of these have been designed to be specifically used with survivors of domestic violence.
To create the tool advanced statistical techniques such as Factor analysis and Multiple regression modelling were used, and existent data that had been collected by the Allstate Foundation with survivors was leveraged.

Sarah Lawrence works in the Research & Insights team in Marketing Analytics (MARA). She plays an integral role providing research and insights which answer key business questions. The role is customer centric and requires an ability to synthesis vast amounts of data and relay research findings to a diverse audience through reports and presentations.
Sarah has a PhD is Sociology and a Master’s in Social Research Methods. She holds a public appointment on the Independent Monitoring Board for Maghaberry prison and is passionate about equitable health and healthcare.
Sarah is the proud mum of two tenacious daughters, Hollie and Ruby.

Topic: Optimize Marketing Budgets with Marketing Mix Models
Speaker: Deborah J Hunter

Debora is a Data Scientist for Allstate NI. She has 10+ years of research and lecturing experience in Physics and Applied Mathematics. Deborah has worked on many data analytics and modelling projects in the fields of Astrophysics and Medical Physics at QUB. More recently, Deborah has applied her academic knowledge and teaching skills to the fields of big data analytics and predictive modelling in Insurance. She is currently delivering Allstate's Community of Practice (CoP) in Data Analytics

Topic: “Finding a forever home”
Inspired by lockdown life and the news that animal shelters were running out of suitable animals for people to adopt, Aileen will explore a dataset from an US based animal shelter, gaining insights into what characteristics make an animal more likely to be adopted. Additionally, does the data indicate any steps that could be taken by animal shelters to help increase the chances of an animal getting adopted.

Aileen Ward – Aileen is a Data Scientist at Allstate. As one of the largest insurance providers in the United States, it is imperative that Allstate offer an accurate and competitive price to customers. Aileen works within the D3 (Data, Discovery and Decision Science) department, on a team that supports pricing for Allstate’s Auto Insurance. This involves working with new and existing data sources relating to the customer and their policy to obtain more accurate, sophisticated pricing.

Panel dates to be announced soon

Registration and further information can be found here.