Five minute profile: interview with Kate O'Sullivan

What’s your role at RDS and what does a typical workday involve? 

I’m the Chief Data Officer at Research Data Scotland, responsible for leading our Data team and shaping how we make Scotland’s public sector data available for high-impact research.  

I’ve only joined RDS a month ago, so I don’t have a typical day yet! But I anticipate in a few months that a typical day involves a mix of strategic planning and operational collaboration: meeting with colleagues internally about data programmes to working with external partners in Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland, Public Health Scotland, EPCC, universities and the Scottish Safe Haven Network to streamline how datasets are ingested, stored and accessed for research. I also have regular sector events in to keep pace with emerging data innovations across the UK (and beyond).  

What’s your background and how does it give you additional insight to your work at RDS? 

Before joining RDS, I spent many years leading data teams in universities – I’m not a data scientist myself, but I love the challenge of working with teams that are highly specialised and technical, and translating that into actionable, understandable, impactful outcomes.  

I led the operational delivery at the Grampian Data Safe Haven (University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian) and more recently I had a dual role as Head of Secure Data Services at the University of Sheffield and Associate Director for Technology, Data and Information Governance at the Yorkshire & Humber NHS Secure Data Environment.  

It’s critical that we ensure public privacy and confidentiality of sensitive data, underpinned by highly secure access and robust information governance, whilst also achieving the needs of researchers to innovate solutions that provide life-changing outcomes to patients and society. This fuels my passion for building frameworks, systems and policies that are trustworthy and transparent.  

What’s a highlight and a challenge of your role? 

One of the biggest highlights is seeing how much valuable administrative and health data could be unlocked for public benefit and starting to put plans in place to make that a reality.

I’m starting to put together a data strategy for the Scottish research data ecosystem that should break down data silos, enable cross-sector data research, and improve the speed at which researchers can access data.

At the same time, a core challenge is helping data owners feel confident about sharing their information securely and ethically and improving the data availability and quality for research.  

What difference do you hope RDS will make? 

I hope RDS will fundamentally shift the pace and ease with which researchers can find and access public sector data, enabling evidence-led insights that drive better policies and services in Scotland. Ultimately, the work we do should help reduce bureaucratic barriers, encourage collaboration and improve outcomes for individuals and communities across Scotland by turning data into real-world impact.  

What would be your “Mastermind” specialist subject? 

My formal academic study was late medieval (14th & 15th c.) Middle English literature and culture, so maybe I’d choose that. But I’m also an ultrarunner, so potentially questions on the UK’s long-distance trails might help me find more incredible places to run! 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

One piece of advice that has stayed with me is that my job as a leader is to make it easier for others to do their best work. This rings true in all aspects of my role: empowering my team to innovative technical solutions that improves data curation, creating information governance frameworks that enable data owners to make data available to researchers and reducing system-wide barriers to data access.