Transform intersectional statistics into meaningful data visualisations in Scottish Government’s Equality Evidence Finder Dashboard

The Equality Evidence Finder (EEF) is a data dashboard for equality evidence built on R Shiny. The Equality Analysis Team’s Statistician is currently undertaking a programme of redevelopment of the EEF to improve accessibility, usability, and automation. The intern taking on this role will take the lead on a specific element of this project which will involve developing the presentation of intersectional equality evidence on the dashboard, thereby improving user experience and filling data gaps. Therefore experience of coding in R packages ggplot2 and tidyverse are essential, while experience of coding in R shiny is desirable.

Research to improve education data collections

Following the publication of results from the 21/22 PIE Census, the Benchmarking and Improving Evidence Team (BIET) within Educational Analytical Services are now looking to the future of this data collection and considering how we can improve the data quality, better meet user needs and increase impact. This project will play a vital role in this development.

Developing the evidence base on childcare for families most at risk of poverty

Scottish Government has committed to better understanding and testing how to deliver high-quality, local, affordable and accessible childcare which supports family wellbeing and employment and helps lift families out of poverty. We are working to build our evidence base in this area and are seeking an intern to help us with this. The project will involve gathering, critically evaluating and summarising evidence from a range of sources to fill identified evidence gaps.

Reactive project in support of Drugs Policy and the National Mission on Drugs

SGSSS internships present invaluable opportunities for analytical outputs to be produced that are reactive and supportive to rapidly changing policy needs. As such, the outputs of these internships are likely to be of great relevance and value to the work of policy colleagues and present opportunity to have real impact on decision making. With this in mind, we will develop the specific focus of this project closer to when the internship is due to start. We will also try to offer a choice of the project that they undertake and ensure the project is shaped around the skills of the candidate. Previous research projects have included evidence/data reviews, surveys, mapping exercises and interviewing.

Tackling health inequalities: evidence for the national review of Community Link Workers

The internship’s objectives are to provide policymakers with a better, evidence-based understanding of: the training/professional support CLWs already receive and gaps in this; and the views of CLWs and those who manage and commission CLWs services about their priorities for professional support and development needs. We expect the project approach to be a combination of: desk-based work (e.g. reviewing reports); data collection and analysis (e.g. interviews, focus groups, online survey); which will lead to a report and key messages Powerpoint.