U of T launches Data Sciences Institute to harness global data revolution

September 1, 2021 by Faculty of Arts & Science

From health care, economics and astrophysics to climate change, digital humanities and the promise of smart cities, the world is in the midst of a data revolution. Complex, massive and unique data sets are being generated and analyzed across a broad spectrum of disciplines at an unprecedented rate.

To capitalize on its strengths, the University of Toronto has launched the Data Sciences Institute (DSI), a community of talented faculty members, researchers, staff and students spanning fields and faculties pursuing exciting research that addresses a variety of global challenges.

“The Data Sciences Institute brings together researchers from various disciplines across the University of Toronto and the University Health Network, the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, establishing Toronto as a leading centre for research into advancing data science,” said Lisa Strug, academic director of the DSI and a professor in the departments of computer science and statistical sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“By connecting data science researchers, data and computational platforms, the DSI will both advance research and nurture the next generation of data- and computationally-focused researchers.”
 

Mobilizing data

Data science – the science of collecting, manipulating, storing, visualizing, learning from and extracting useful information from data – is fast becoming a key tool in the development of solutions designed to address society’s most pressing challenges and opportunities.

Led by the Faculty of Arts & Science, the establishment of the DSI enables U of T to mobilize cross-disciplinary data science research and training and support a data science research network across U of T through which members can learn from each other and foster the development of new methodologies and approaches to data sciences research.

Read the full story at U of T News.