New academic leadership for the Data Scientist Development Programme
Dr Richard Hodgett, Associate Professor in Business Analytics and Decision Science and MBA Director at the Leeds University Business School, is the programme’s new Academic Chair from January 2026.
The Academic Chair is a key member of the Data Scientist Development Programme (DSDP) leadership team, responsible for driving forward its strategic aims and ensuring academic quality and assurance. The post also reports to the LIDA Research & Innovation Committee, ensuring that DSDP research outputs and impacts are captured and recognised on behalf of the Institute. The DSDP is LIDA’s flagship programme for training early-career data scientists while delivering real-world data insight projects for internal and external partners that support the public good.
The role includes profiling the Programme at key networking opportunities, assuring the quality of research undertaken through the Programme, and driving forward the research, capacity-building and EDI agenda.
Dr Hodgett, who was featured in Poets & Quants ‘2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors’, brings over a decade of experience in Business Analytics and Decision Science, specialising in decision support systems, multi-criteria decision-making, data analysis, approaches to mitigating and evaluating uncertainty, and advanced business analytics. He has demonstrated strong academic leadership through directing a range of Business School programmes, including the MSc in Business Analytics and Decision Sciences and the flagship MBA programme, ensuring strategic alignment with industry needs and academic excellence.
He also has extensive capacity-building experience, having delivered introductory and intermediate R programming courses that equip learners with practical analytical skills and promote a culture of data-driven decision-making.
His contributions extend nationally and internationally, having taught on United Nations management programmes and developed online learning materials for senior civil servants. Bringing together rigorous academic knowledge and practical insights from real-world analytics applications, Dr Hodgett is exceptionally well positioned to advance the DSDP agenda with vision and impact.
Dr Hodgett said, “I’m looking forward to broadening the Programme’s reach across a wider range of external partners through the delivery of tailored data and AI solutions, develop its offer to internal University Schools, and secure funding for continued growth. We will also begin mapping impact against the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”
Dr Hodgett succeeds Professor Michelle Morris, who has served in the role for the past three years and overseen its transition from an internship scheme to a Programme that delivers award-winning research while increasing data science capacity. She has also been an active contributor to the Programme since its inception in 2016, having supervised or co-supervised 14 six-month projects on topics ranging from healthy lifestyles to public perceptions of health data usage.
Prof Michelle Morris said, “I am proud to have been able to contribute to the Data Scientist Development Programme as Academic Chair. Being part of the team that creates an environment where talented data scientists can thrive and achieve so much over their 12-month programme is so rewarding. I look forward to continuing as a DSDP supervisor in 2026 and wish the team all the best with future developments to the programme.”
Kylie Norman, DSDP Manager said, “Professor Morris has always championed the Programme’s work on capacity-building and diversifying the data workforce through positive action recruitment. She leaves behind a legacy not only of award-winning research for the public good, but also of data scientists whose careers she has helped shape. We’re now looking forward to the next chapter for the Programme, which will grow our alignment with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, and the fantastic partnership development and capacity building skills that Dr Hodgett will bring for 2026.”
For more information about the DSDP visit lida.leeds.ac.uk/data-scientist-development-programme/