Laura Howell, Statisticians for Society Volunteer
Laura Howell is a Statistician in the Civil Service with a background of working in medical statistics.
What was your volunteer role at the RSS?
I have supported two charities through the RSS Statisticians for Society scheme. The first charity I was assigned to through the scheme was Embrace Wigan and Leigh (EW&L) where I worked alongside another volunteer to support the charity. EW&L is a user-led charity who are dedicated to supporting disabled people and their families in the Wigan and Leigh area and surrounding districts. I continue to support the charity by attending their quarterly management committee meetings as a subject matter expert.
More recently, I have been working alongside another volunteer to support the charity Home Start Aberdeen. The charity wished to improve the information and knowledge they could derive from their data and so this has involved a review of the current data collected, focusing on its quality, completeness, and potential.
What did the role involve?
As part of the RSS Statisticians for Society scheme, EW&L wished to enhance their data capabilities to meet their charity objectives and so our work proposal covered four key areas:
- Help the charity develop their current method of data collection to provide them with more knowledge of their clients.
- Support the charity to be more consistent with data collection before and after an intervention so they could monitor and compare impacts effectively.
- Explore the data that the charity currently holds on existing clients and advise on the possible analysis that could be undertaken.
- Support the charity to be consistent across multiple projects with data collection and therefore align processes where possible.
I have continued to support the charity for the last 5 years by attending their quarterly management committee meetings as a subject matter expert. My main role is to provide advice on how the charity can continue to improve their data collection and best use their data to support funding applications and the day to day running of the charity.
Why did you choose this role?
I have always wanted to get involved with providing statistical support to charities and so the RSS Statisticians for Society was a great opportunity to do this. I found taking part in the scheme very rewarding and so was very keen to carry on supporting EW&L by attending their management committee meetings going forwards.
Has the experience been valuable for your professional development?
It has been very valuable to my professional development as it has enabled me to interact with the charity sector and see how this sector works, which is quite different to my day job. I have had experience of working as a statistical consultant and so this has enabled me to develop those skills further
What have you enjoyed most about your experience?
Embrace Wigan and Leigh is a local charity to me and so it has been really rewarding to be able to support them over the past 5 years with their statistics and give something back that in turn supports my local community.
What advice would you give to anyone interested in volunteering with the RSS?
There are lots of opportunities to help volunteer with the RSS so definitely take a look and see what might interest you. I would recommend looking into the RSS Statisticians for Society scheme as I found it a very rewarding experience and there is the option to work alongside other volunteers to support the charities.
What's next – do you plan to carry on in this role or are you tempted to try other volunteer roles?
I am also the secretary for the RSS Manchester Local Group which involves me helping to organise an annual programme of events and talks. I have also just become a member of the RSS Statisticians for Society scoping committee which works alongside the review committee to help support the initiative’s mission. I am really looking forward to talking to more charities to see how we might support them through the scheme.