The CORE Skills Geoscientist to Data Scientist pilot program has had its final day for the year, successfully wrapping up for the industry professionals from global energy and resources companies who graduated from the program.
The pilot program brought together foundation collaborators Roy Hill, Rio Tinto and ATCO Australia with premier education partners CSIRO, Curtin University and the University of Western Australia at the CORE Innovation Hub in the Perth CBD to address organisational data science implementation.
The program validated and refined capability delivery in two formats: a one day Leading Data Scientists executive program and a 15 day Data Science Springboard professionals’ program that ran from 4 September – 4 December 2018.
For many mining and energy organisations, a data science skills deficit is a significant capability gap, limiting the ability to capitalise on the digital disruption opportunity.
CORE Innovation Hub CEO, Tamryn Barker, said industry cannot solve this data literacy gap with recruitment alone, due to the shortage of highly skilled data scientists and specialised graduates, and their lack of organisational and domain knowledge.
“A clear opportunity for industry is to upskill technical people throughout their organisation for a successful data literacy transition, aligning skills to emerging needs and averting further redundancy knowledge loss,” Barker commented.
“Resources-specific, accelerated data science skills programs are needed to prepare teams for changing work to deliver smarter lifelong workplace learning,” she said.
CORE Skills Catalyst and Pilot Lead Dr Sophie Hancock also explained that the program has created a pathway of what a successful data science transition for a resources organisation can look like.
“Distributed data science skills at the coal face, in the hands of domain specialists who are motivated and led by enabling executives, including professionals from support functions across mining, energy and technology are turning disruptive forces into competitive advantage for CORE Skills alumni,” said Hancock.
Lastly, Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Chris Salisbury praised the pilot program, stating that it is a great example of how the industry can pioneer innovative learning solutions, in collaborative environments, to provide people with the opportunity to grow and develop in their roles.
“Our industry is rapidly changing and with development of our most technologically advanced mine, Koodaideri, on the horizon, it’s critically important we use data science to extract intelligence and insights to help drive our business to greater success. The success of this pilot could now provide the foundations for a new model for upskilling our people with the future skills needs of the industry,” he shared.
More information on CORE Skills, along with expressions of interest details for 2019, can be found here.