This autumn, the GroundsWell Consortium widened its mission to understand and improve children’s understanding of data, delivering a series of engaging 'Data Detectives' events across its three hub cities: Liverpool, Belfast, and Edinburgh. Funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Science, these interactive workshops were designed to empower young people by demystifying the world of data, showing them how it can be used to explore and advocate for their health and natural environments in their own communities. By connecting social science research with hands-on learning, we aimed to spark curiosity and show how data is not just a set of numbers, but a powerful tool for storytelling and change. 

Data Detectives in Liverpool

In Liverpool, Our 'Data Detectives' event was a resounding success! We went into Black Horse Hill School on the Wirral and explored the game alongside some of our partners at Liverpool Child Friendly Cities who revealed how Liverpool council use data in their roles. An overwhelming 100% of the children who took part told us they were glad they came and that they had learnt something new. But the real success was in the change of attitude we saw. One student summed it up perfectly, sharing, "...I didn't know data could be used in so many ways". It was clear the event sparked a new curiosity, with nearly 86% of students saying the session changed how they think about data. Seeing them discover that data is a tool for solving real-world problems was exactly what we hoped to achieve. 

Data Detectives in Belfast

In Belfast, our ‘Data Detectives’ event had a spooky twist!

We held our public event on Halloween, and children aged 7-12 were invited to join us. The event was co-hosted with the Administrative Data Research Centre Northern Ireland, and both research teams dressed to impress (and scare). The children were guided through a series of activities designed to help them understand how we collect data, how we analyse data, and how data is used to make decisions to improve public health. All of the table activities centred around our fictional town – MonsterTown – and one creative young person drew a health poster for the MHS, the MonsterTown Health Service.

       

Feedback for the event was overwhelmingly positive, with one parent reporting, “they have started to think about the amount of data that is captured in day-to-day life”. At the end of the event, we had a group of budding data scientists, doctors, and ghouls who were now more aware of data collection, public health planning, and research. One parent said, “the children really enjoyed the activities and gave them insight into research and data handling ... we would love to attend more events like this”. 

Data Detectives in Edinburgh

In Edinburgh, our focus extended to the neighbouring town of Livingston in West Lothian, where we encouraged young teams of researchers to cultivate a deeper awareness of their everyday environments and identify how they might address local Health Inequalities. Working in collaboration with the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR) we were fortunate to engage with two vibrant and imaginative groups: in the morning, a P7 class of 30 children at Riverside Primary School, and in the afternoon, a smaller but equally dynamic P7 class of 15 children at Letham Primary School. Demonstrating remarkable versatility, the children engaged confidently with the tools provided to explore what data is, understand key aspects of data management, and consider how such insights can inform real-world decision-making. Their curiosity and creativity brought fresh perspectives to the challenges faced within their communities and the possibilities for meaningful change.