Frances Denny

"I was matched with Developer, Investigator and Quality Controller. When I read through the descriptions, I could see myself in all 3, both personally and professionally. As a trained Statistician, you naturally have to have good logic and analytical skills which fits with Investigator type who are problem solvers using data driven approaches with an evidence based outcome. Linked to that, being able to harness other skills such being creative and flexible as outlined in the Developer type helps when you need to come up with alternative ways of solving problems. Much like the Quality Controller type, being curious and wanting to challenge the way things have always been done are key attributes in Exploristics staff as typically our customers come to us when traditional statistical methods aren't able to handle the complex problem they are facing. Although I've moved away from being a practicing Statistician, and instead work in Business Operations, at the heart of my role is problem solving where the same skills and attributes are required."

"The main things a Statistician at Exploristics would be involved in include, sample size calculations (deciding how many patients are needed in a clinical study), creating a statistical analysis plan which outlines what statistical analysis you will apply to answer all the study objectives, statistical programming in SAS or R to produce outputs such as tables, figures and listings before finally writing a report which summarises your findings.As the Business Operations Manager at Exploristics, I'm responsible for overseeing the \"engine\" of the company i.e. making sure everyone has what they need to do their job effectively. I wear many hats looking after Finance, IT, HR, Facilities and our Quality Management System (QMS).Whether in my role as a Statistician or as the Business Operations Manager, what I've always enjoyed is the variety of the work. There are no two days the same which is challenging and helps maintain my interest. Along with the teamwork element, driving towards a bigger goal that ultimately helps everyday people. Combined, these things give me immense job satisfaction."

"When deciding my A Level choices, I was quite practical - what subjects did I enjoy, what was I good at, and what had the best career potential. I chose Biology, Chemistry and Maths having a slight notion of studying Medicine. Within about 6 months of starting A Levels, I knew that Medicine was not the right path for me. It really boiled down to the fact that I loved Maths, so much so that I didn't want to give it up, no matter how difficult I found it at times. In the end all 6 choices on my UCAS application were for a Maths degree in various institutions. I managed to get the grades, and accepted a place at Queens University Belfast (QUB) to study Maths.Along with my 5th year classmates I was once given great advice by our Maths teacher, in that if we ever got the chance to study Statistics at uni, take the opportunity, it'll be the best thing you'll ever do. That always stuck with me, and given that I enjoyed it at A Level, I thought I'd give it a go along with Pure and Applied Mathematics that were a stable. At the time of going to QUB there were fewer Statistics modules available than what there is now, and whilst we had lecturers advising in 2nd Year that we needed to pick a focus of either Pure or Applied”, I was still leaning down the Statistics road. However, with the limitations at the time, I chose to keep studying all 3 Mathematical fields. My degree only confirmed my love of Statistics, because I saw real world application of the methodology as a tool to solve complex problems. After completing my Bachelors, I took some time out thinking all the while I might have to return to do further study in order to enhance my career prospects. I went down the traditional route of further study, starting what I thought would be a Masters but in the end graduated with a PhD in Statistics.Upon finishing up at QUB for a second time, I saw an opportunity come up with Exploristics. At the time it was a brand new company that nobody had ever heard of, only just being set up in Belfast and doing the kind of work that I was really interested in. I was fortunate to be offered a position as Principal Statistician and I was the first employee of the company. I’ve been there ever since. For the first seven years or so, I worked as a Statistician helping our customers to solve their analytical problems, whether it be advising on the sample size they needed for their study, right through to analysing their data trying to figure out why their study failed. My current role at Exploristics is the Business Operations Manager. As you can see from the above, I don't have a background in Business, but I've learnt on the job and from others what it takes to run a business successfully. "

"If you've read everything above, it probably comes as no surprise if I say I really enjoy reading - generally fiction but I'm not adverse to the odd biography (Becoming by Michelle Obama is a great read for anyone at any age), or non-fiction to learn new techniques e.g. Leadership (Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg). When I can, I love a good box set that will keep me entertained for awhile, the more series in the back-catalogue the better. I've always had a love of sports, generally Football and Rugby. I keep fit when I can, working it around family life. All the things I do in my spare time has taught me the value of needing time away from work/study to give my mind a break, it helps me to think clearly and reduces stress. The result is that when I come back to work, I perform better at my job. "

"A typical day as a statistician would involve reading and responding to updates from colleagues via email; sometimes programming all day in SAS or R, creating 1 or more outputs such as a table or figure to represent the findings within the data; performing checks on results that I or others had produced; writing a report for the customer, identifying key areas of interest and then presenting the findings to the customer in a meeting (often remotely for us as our customers tend to be based overseas).I found when moving into management, and away from a technical, customer facing role my time was spent more often than not in meetings - internally and externally. I was involved in reporting back on performance, the status of projects, expectations for the month ahead as well as being part of the decision making process.As the Business Operations Manager, I'm no longer involved in the technical aspect of the roles within our company. Instead, my typical day is spent implementing new processes, liaising with others to make sure everything is in place for everyone else to do their job effectively. As a senior member of staff, I'm still involved in a lot of meetings, but I'd say now I'm giving more direction, leading change, creating strategies to grow the business. I also work externally to liaise with other bodies outside of the business, e.g. Diversity Charter Mark NI to better understand the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Given what we do and who are customers are, Exploristics really sees the value in having a diverse workforce."

"A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.BSc (with Hons) in Mathematics (Pure and Applied)PhD in Statistics"