Take 10 with... Katarzyna Sila-Nowicka

1. Describe your research topic to us in 10 words or less.

I explore, enhance, and anonymise people’s digital breadcrumbs.

2. Now explain it in everyday terms!

By ‘digital breadcrumbs’ I mean the trails of data that people leave when they move around a physical space. I use human movement data produced by our mobile phones to infer what, where and why people are doing. Studying human movement and its relationship to the urban and natural environment is crucial for understanding its impact on modern global concerns and phenomena such as the spread of diseases, traffic intensity, human mobility and accessibility to services, geoprivacy, natural hazards and migration.

Movement data is sensitive and its access and usage is governed by strict privacy laws. Therefore, parts of my research focus on finding innovative ways to use and process the collected data while making sure it’s kept completely anonymous.

3. Describe some of your day-to-day research activities.

As an academic, I have some flexibility in how I shape my daily routine and when I do my research. I have most time for research outside of semester time when I’m mainly teaching and supervising students. A typical week of research involves coding, writing, data processing, reading other research in my field and collaboration with students and peers. I am part of some international research groups so I usually have at least one online meeting a week to discuss project progress either early in the morning or in the evening.

4. What do you enjoy most about your research?

That it is never boring, never repetitive, every day comes with new problems and challenges. I enjoy coming up with solutions to these problems as well as new methods or models that can help understanding human mobility behaviour. I also enjoy working with bright and talented people who inspire me and my research. My research has a very wide global reach so it’s great to be able to engage with like-minded people from all over the world.

5. Tell us something that has surprised or amused you in the course of your research.

When I started working with human movement data, it was at a time before social media and everyone carrying around GPS-enabled mobile phones and I was shocked then at how much you could still tell about people from a limited supply of supposedly anonymous movement data. Now it’s almost overwhelming how much personal data there is that people generate from their phones and household electronics without even knowing it.

An amusing thing that I have discovered from researching human movement data is how predictable we all are! We may think of ourselves as individual and unique but in the eyes of machines and algorithms our daily routines don’t differ very much and they can be quite accurate in guessing what we’re going to do next!

6. How have you approached any challenges you’ve faced in your research?

Addressing challenges can stem from various sources: research problems, technological issues, or collaboration difficulties. Depending on the challenge, I adopt different approaches, but typically, discussing and brainstorming with collaborators or colleagues proves invaluable. Relying on others' expertise is crucial in overcoming these hurdles. Taking a step back and viewing the problem from a fresh perspective is often the key.

Coding is the source of a lot of my frustrations, but sometimes a break, like a game of tennis, can clear my mind and allow me to return with a new perspective to help find a solution.

7. What questions have emerged as a result?

Working with human mobility data, such as mobile phone data, raises a fundamental question about the predictability of this data and, by extension, the predictability of people's lives. My applied research is data-driven, creating a cascade of interconnected problems that continually generate a stream of never-ending research questions.

8. What kind of impact do you hope your research will have?

I hope that by developing methods for data anonymization or creating synthetic mobility data, we will be able to use mobility data for research to address multiple societal challenges without breaching privacy laws and within the scope of data sovereignty protocols and guidelines.

9. If you collaborate across the faculty or University, or outside the University, who do you work with and how does it benefit your research?

I love working with people outside of my immediate academic circle and finding where our work overlaps. I have been collaborating with individuals within the UoA from the IMS, Faculty of Engineering, School of Planning and Architecture, as well as the School of Public Health.

Nationally, my collaborators come from the University of Otago and the University of Canterbury. Internationally, I have been collaborating with a number of universities in the UK, USA, Canada, and Poland.

10. What one piece of advice would you give your younger, less experienced research self?

It is hard to choose one….. when working with enormous sets of data it is easy to lose a bit of perspective and dedicate lots of time and effort into things that aren’t very important! I would advise taking a step back more often and looking at the bigger picture of what I’m doing, am I enjoying it, what is the purpose of it and who is going to benefit from it.

I would also advise to try to get as good and efficient in coding early on, it’s a big help in the long run!