Elizabeth Dolan (2019 cohort) : Horizon CDT

Elizabeth Dolan is a member of the Horizon CDT 2019 cohort and graduated in the summer of 2024. She is developing an innovative approach to health research by exploring how everyday shopping data can be used to diagnose disease.

Through her groundbreaking research and with the support of the CDT Impact Grant, she aims to raise public awareness about the potential uses of shopping data in health research, engage the public in shaping the development of future studies and capture new ideas to guide further research.

Lizzie is using the CDT Impact Grant to deliver a series of activities and resources aimed at engaging the public and stakeholders in meaningful ways.

These include:

Hosting a public-facing event at the Open City Lab in We The Curious (WTC), where visitors will participate in hands-on activities.
Collaborating with facilitators and researchers to conduct the event and build skills around public engagement.
Creating a context-setting film to introduce the research topic and showcase it at the event.
Developing a communication plan to involve key stakeholders, including NHS, Ovacome, Boots and The Alan Turing Institute.
Running a post-event reflection to assess public feedback and facilitator insights.

This project is just the beginning. Lizzie plans to use the outcomes of the public engagement event to support future funding applications, including a submission to the ESRC Digital Footprints call. The feedback and insights gathered from the public will also be used to shape future research on using shopping data for health purposes.

Additionally, the recorded outputs from the event, including the film and report, will be shared with stakeholders and used to ‘build new partnerships’ across academia, the retail and pharmaceutical industries, and healthcare organizations. This could lead to further collaborations and advancements in how everyday data is used to tackle health challenges.

This exciting research has the potential to transform how we think about the intersection of data, health, and technology, paving the way for new insights and collaborations that benefit both researchers and the wider community.

Lizzie is currently a Research Fellow in Health Data Science at N/LAB. She is developing a framework for Personal Data Donation.