Policy Data Scientist

Data Scientist to lead innovative KE/innovation data projects using advanced analytics and AI/ML

The ideal candidate will have a keen interest in research commercialisation, knowledge/technology transfer or innovation processes, with experience working with research and innovation-related data (e.g. data on grants, patents, publications), company-level databases, and/or web scraping tools. Excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills are required for this role as you will be required to work collaboratively in teams to deliver projects with interdependent work packages, as well as communicate complex methodologies, concepts and tools to non-technical audiences.

In addition to this, you will have:

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• Knowledge and use of one or more programming languages e.g. R, Python.
  
• Expert skills in tools for data extraction, integration, analysis and visualisation, pipeline development (use of APIs), version control (e.g. Git).
  
• Advanced skills in AI/ML and other analytical techniques to extract relevant insights from data.
  
• Strong problem‑solving skills and an analytical, solutions‑focused mindset.
  
• Strong project scoping, planning and delivery skills, able to translate user need into tangible projects and executable milestone‑driven implementation plans.
  
• Ability to work independently and in teams within an environment with limited existing processes or guidance, developing novel and innovative methods, workflows and protocols from scratch to meet project needs and ensure reproducibility and scalability.
  

You will also demonstrate a strong motivation for undertaking data analyses with policy communities in‑mind, to inform policy/funding approaches, as well as enthusiasm for developing their capabilities around advanced data tools and techniques.

The candidate will have the chance to be involved in a number exciting projects in key areas within the unit. These exciting areas include an ability to influence the data informing commercialisation and knowledge exchange policy/funding approaches. Some key projects include :

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• The expansion of the new university Spinout Register to integrate new sources of data (e.g. patents, people, funding, deal terms, investment);
  
• Building a comprehensive database of patents linked to UK universities; and
  
• Developing tools to systematically extract, interrogate and analyse text‑based information available on websites, documents, grants etc. on the approaches universities are developing to support commercialisation and wider forms of knowledge exchange.
  

This is a new role for UCI that will be central to delivering added value to the partnership with the Research England KE team, including the development and deployment of advanced analytical techniques, statistical models and AI/ML approaches to unlocking new data sources to inform decision‑making, and funding programme design and delivery. The role holder will be expected to contribute to building up capabilities in this area both within the UCI team and at our partners, Research England.

We are looking for a motivated and collaborative Data Scientist to work with the UCI team to play a lead role in delivering strategically important, data‑driven projects over the course of 2026, supporting the unit’s long‑standing partnership with Research England (UKRI).

Key responsibilities of the role will include ;

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• Delivery of strategically important data‑driven projects as part of the UCI‑Research England 2025‑26 work programme. Devise novel solutions to experimental and analytical problems presented by the UCI team, pushing boundaries of current practice. Perform and lead various aspects of data integration, analysis, and solutions development.
  
• Development and application of state‑of‑the‑art approaches to the extraction, integration, analysis, and visualisation/presentation of data to enable the delivery of UCI projects to agreed timescales milestones. Develop clustering and classification algorithms to identify structure within datasets and develop typologies/taxonomies. Undertake statistical / other forms of analysis of data generated in house and by external partners and providers as required to support project delivery.
  
• Translate approaches and pipelines into automated procedures and /or standalone tools where appropriate. Carry out performance testing and optimisation of developed pipelines to ensure they run efficiently. Document and manage source code within an appropriate environment. Produce clear documentation for the deployment of tools by non‑technical users.
  
• Design databases and provide day to day management of datasets including maintenance of data backups. Liaise with experts in various disciplines to successfully integrate databases from different sources. Ensure accurate and detailed cataloguing and processing of data for publications.
  
• Present work on key findings, analysis approaches / workflows at internal / external meetings to share findings and build capabilities of team and of UCI partners. Communicate effectively with UCI’s key partner, Research England, including exchanging technical ideas, sharing protocols and standardisation of data pipelines and analytics.
  
• Support and advise the UCI leadership team on the development of the unit’s capabilities around applying AI/data science for policy applications and insights. This will include training group members in the use of tools and mentoring junior members of the team. Provide support to other UCI team members on data‑related tasks where appropriate.
  
• Adhere to best coding practices (including ethical standards) and compliance to relevant regulations (including GDPR) and security procedures.
  
• Maintain awareness of current and emerging technologies, experimental techniques, methods and tools. Keep abreast of relevant scientific literature, attend training courses and conferences. Be a champion of data science and AI/ML to inform policy/funding contexts, communicating its value to colleagues across the unit and external partners and stakeholders.
  

This is a 12‑month fixed term position until 31st December 2026 in the first instance. As such, we are ideally looking for someone to start as soon as possible in January 2026, and the interviews will take place during the week commencing 15th December 2025.

The University of Cambridge Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation Policy (UCI) is a leading UK centre of excellence dedicated to improving the data, evidence and insights available to governments, funding agencies and universities to help them drive a step‑change in university contributions to innovation through commercialisation and knowledge exchange. Funded by Research England (UKRI) since 2020, our work has had a significant impact on the development of government policies related to commercialisation and knowledge exchange, and on university practice. Our partnership with Research England currently centres around developing novel data, metrics and evidence on commercialisation and wider forms of knowledge exchange. UCI is based at the Institute for Manufacturing in West Cambridge.

A key milestone of our work programme was reached in mid 2025 with the launch of the UK’s first comprehensive national University Spinout Register a line‑by‑line dataset of all UK university spinout companies. Work is now underway to integrate other sources of data and information (including on patents, grants, and people involved, and company financials), to unlock new insights on the health, performance and impact of the UK’s spinout ecosystem.

Find more information on our website : https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/uci-policy-unit/

Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI)

Institute for Manufacturing, Cambridge, CB3 0FS