My name is William Becker and I’m a data scientist and policy analyst

I’ve led data-driven research projects for international organisations since 2011 on topics from sustainable development to globalisation.

Know more Contact me

Projects

SOME RECENT WORK

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EDGAR: Global emissions database

EDGAR is a highly detailed global database of greenhouse gas and pollution emissions maintained by the European Commission.

Community based protection in Guatemala

Measuring migrant and refugee vulnerability in Guatemala.

Composite indicator app

A web app for composite indicator construction

Vietnam provincial innovation index

Auditing and assisting with an index to measure innovation at the regional level in Vietnam.

COINr: An R package for composite indicators

My R package is used worldwide by professional developers.

EU Bioeconomy Indicators

Time series analysis for bioeconomy indicators.

Global Innovation Index

Custom R package development for composite indicator processing

Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index

Model calculation and global sensitivity analysis

Quality Infrastructure for Sustainable Development Index

Linking quality infrastructure and sustainable development with a data-driven analysis.

Training

Training courses, lecturing and tuition.

Other

An overview of other work

The COIN Tool

An advanced Excel tool for composite indicators

European programme monitoring

Monitoring European spending programmes

Impact assessment

Ex-ante impact assessments for European policy making

Asia-Europe Connectivity

Measuring sustainable connectivity between Europe and Asia

Experience

WHERE I’VE WORKED

 
 
 
 
 

Data science consultant

Freelance/collaborative

Oct 2020 – Present Italy

Leading and designing international data analysis research to inform policy making. Bespoke statistical software design. Clients include UN agencies (WIPO, UNIDO, UNHCR), the European Commission and other international organisations.

Responsibilities include:

  • Client engagement
  • Stakeholder consultation
  • Software development
  • Data collection and cleaning
  • Data analysis and modelling
  • Data visualisation and presentation
  • Generating usable insights via reports, presentations, dashboards etc.
  • Web development
  • Project management
  • Training
 
 
 
 
 

Senior data/policy analyst

European Commission - Joint Research Centre

Feb 2011 – Mar 2020 Italy
Leading projects developing and advising on indicator frameworks for policy monitoring, and tracking global trends for the European commission and international organisations. I also performed research into uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, including development of new techniques and application of existing techniques to support EU policy. My work includes applications in econometrics, impact assessment and a wide range of computer models.
 
 
 
 
 

Researcher

Politecnico di Torino

Oct 2008 – Jul 2009 Turin, Italy
Modelling the response of a novel airship design using finite element methods. Performing uncertainty/sensitivity analysis via Bayesian methods.
 
 
 
 
 

PhD student

University of Sheffield

Nov 2006 – Feb 2011 Turin, Italy
Research into the application of Bayesian uncertainty and sensitivity analysis methods to large nonlinear models in engineering. Primarily, I applied machine learning techniques to build emulators for complex physical models. I personally developed a novel biomechanical model of a heart valve, and a fluid-structure model of an airship.

Recent Posts

THOUGHTS AND UPDATES

I began my freelance journey in October 2020. A little over two years later, here’s a rambling and introspective review!

Recently I built a website, and I’m starting several new projects soon. Things starting to get very busy!

Why I really really don’t like Microsoft Teams in one short rant 😄

Recent Publications

Here is some of my recent research

A peer-reviewed overview of my R package for constructing and analysing composite indicators.

Building an indicator framework for mapping monitoring internation connections between Asian and European countries, linking to sustainable development.

Performing sensitivity analysis with dependent input variables, using a Bayesian polynomial chaos emulator. Technique is applied to a drainage model.

Exploring how composite indicator weights can be optimised using concepts from information theory.

Construction of an indicator framework for decentralised energy investments in Africa.

Contact

Connect with me

  • Ispra, Italy