Next Tuesday the 13^th May, Mendeley and Elsevier will be joining a day of lively debating around Big Data and education. Some of the key questions to be tackled include how we can use big data to transform the way we deliver education and enhance learning, what are the possibilities and limitations around big data, and how can those involved in education make the most of this digital revolution.

The title of the conference asks, “What’s The Big Idea” behind big data, and Mendeley Co-founder Jan Reichelt will join Elsevier’s Olivier Dumon (MD Research Markets) and Gabriel Hughes, VP of Web Analytics to try and come up with some answers (or maybe even more interesting questions!). The keynotes and panels will bring together perspectives from industry, government, institutions, educators and students to determine how we can foster more successful initiatives to benefit the entire academic community.

This is one of a series of policy events organised by the European Commission and DIGITALEUROPE under the umbrella of TECY (Technology, Education, Culture, Youth), and was brought about by the recent partnership between UCL and Elsevier which created the UCL Big Data Institute. This collaboration, which was launched in December 2013, is looking to explore innovative ways to serve researcher’s needs through new technologies and applied analytics.

Interestingly, another key theme of the conference is also where academia can partner up with industry to develop, mine and analyse meaningful data sources to deliver radically improved learning experiences, and what Europe can do to stay at the forefront of this worldwide revolution. That’s something that Mendeley has some experience of, as we’ve been working with the European Commission on many projects like CODE to improve the service we offer our community. We also collaborate with other academic institutions and industry partners such as the University of Passau in Germany, who have recently launched the groundbreaking 42-Data portal.

We’ll be posting updates on the discussions throughout the day using the hashtags #Mendeley #UCLTECY and #bdw14 and there will be videos and notes published afterwards, so watch this space. In the meantime, as usual, if you have any questions or comments just leave them below or get in touch via Twitter of Facebook!