Greater Govanhill receives funding for a ‘Digging Into Data’ journalism project
Greater Govanhill is one of five projects to receive funding from Research Data Scotland’s public engagement fund. It will enable Greater Govanhill to run data journalism skills classes for local community reporters.
Research Data Scotland (RDS) has awarded a total of over £34,000 to five projects through its Public Engagement Fund in 2025-26.
Initially piloted in 2022-23, the RDS Public Engagement Fund supports projects that bring people and data together. The RDS is a non-profit organisation which is a partnership between the Scottish Government, Scotland’s leading academic institutions and public bodies.
Due to considerable interest and impact from the pilot fund, a second round of funding was launched, with £30,000 available. After reviewing all applications, a total of £34,315 has been awarded to five projects across Scotland.
A portion of the total fund has been ring-fenced for a pilot community fund, supporting a community organisation to engage people in data research, which is what has been awarded to Greater Govanhill CIC.
Katie Oldfield, RDS Public Engagement Manager, said: “Innovative public engagement is key to ensuring the public voice is heard in data research, raise awareness of the ways data can be used to improve lives, and inspire people to get involved. Each of these projects will engage the public in varied and creative ways, and I’m looking forward to seeing how their work evolves over the coming year.”
Digging into Data: Data Journalism for Community Reporters
Greater Govanhill will provide training courses on data journalism skills, which will be made available to people in Govanhill who have experience of marginalisation. The participants will be equipped with the skills to dig into data around issues that they care about, and which also affect other people locally. They will also be equipped with skills to be able to tell these stories, with a particular focus on solutions journalism, discovering the positive outliers in datasets and investigating who’s done it better. The aim is both hold power to account, and to inspire others to make change happen.
Ten participants will directly benefit from the skills they learn, and there will be wider benefits throughout the local Govanhill community. The resulting work will be featured in a special issue of the Greater Govanhill magazine, and as usual 4,000 copies will be published and distributed for free in the neighbourhood.
This project has been funded through the pilot community fund which aims to support a community organisation to engage people in data research. In addition to funding, the project will be supported with guidance from RDS data professionals.
More info will be available soon, but if you are interested in being kept informed of when applications are open, or have idea for data stories that we should dig into, please let us know here.
The other projects that will receive funding are:
Data Conversations: What Do We Really Mean by Data? – The SCONe project, University of Edinburgh
The SCONe project aims to improve health outcomes by establishing a comprehensive repository of retinal images from optometry practices across Scotland. Using SCONe as an example, the team will work with the public to break down complex data concepts into tangible examples to explore the implications of using – or not using – health data in research around disease prevention, care and early detection.
Sibling Data Cafes for Care Experienced Young People – Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh
This project focuses on new data about sibling relationships of care experienced young people, which will be made available in the next few years as part of Administrative Data Research (ADR) Scotland’s Looked After Children dataset.
The project team, led by Dr Katie Cebula, aims to create a dialogue between care experienced young people and data analysts/researchers, to ensure that care experienced young people understand the sibling data collected about them and how it’s used, that messages are shared appropriately, and future priorities for data use are considered.
The team will run two pop-up ‘Sibling Data Cafes’ for care leavers and their supporters, offering a range of creative activities such as data stories, graffiti boards and ‘postcards to a data analyst’.
Using LEGO® to Discuss Data Science with the Polish Community – University of Stirling
People from ethnic minority groups make up a significant part of the Scottish population, however they are often overlooked in conversations around data science.
Researchers from the University of Stirling are seeking to address this imbalance by leading workshops with Polish people living in Aberdeen, exploring their perspectives on data science and developing new relationships for future projects. The team will use LEGO to break down language barriers, empowering participants to express themselves freely and openly.
Why Big Data Matters – Generation Scotland
Generation Scotland is Scotland’s largest family health and wellbeing study with over 40,000 participants, looking to improve health and wellbeing of current and future generations in Scotland. It is a collaboration between the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow with NHS Scotland.
Through a partnership with the University of Glasgow Schools Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE), Generation Scotland are developing resources for use in schools to engage young people in discussions around health and data research.
Generation Scotland was previously supported by our Public Engagement Fund in 2022-23, where the team connected with members of the public at science festivals and other large-scale events.
The fund was open for six weeks and received over 30 proposals. They were reviewed by a panel including RDS team members, external representatives including a community representative, and members of the Scotland Talks Data public panel.