Key to the Collaborative’s success is its director, Alex Hutchison, who serves as a tireless advocate for the responsible use of data to improve the lives of children. Doing so requires the skill to navigate the complex relationship between the Collaborative’s key stakeholders to challenge, initiate and drive ideas that resonate across organisational boundaries. Hutchison’s technical skills lie not only in understanding the scope, methodology and impact of her projects, but in ensuring that projects are delivered in the right way, for the right reason.
To facilitate this, she has developed the Responsible Innovation framework. The framework includes elements such as ethical assessment, safeguarding and a youth engagement approach to ensure that diverse project teams undertake project work in a responsible and aligned manner.
It is specifically designed to be practical, accessible and a tangible value-add for the project, rather than a barrier or box ticking exercise. Hutchison and her team were commissioned to develop a similar framework for the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 Data & Intelligence Network.
Hutchison’s colleagues describe her as a balanced communicator. Excellent listening skills compliment her ability to translate innovative solutions into tangible, yet simple and effective, outputs. Through inspirational leadership, effective communication and formidable negotiation, Hutchison’s work has improved outcomes for children around the world.
