HDR UK Black Internship Programme: Five Years of Impact and Building Momentum

The HDR UK Black Internship Programme (BIP) is a pioneering initiative that has provided students and recent graduates with an opportunity to expand their knowledge and gain the experience to kickstart, or advance, a career in health data science.

We are marking its first five years, in which it has had a real impact and built momentum in dismantling systemic barriers and fostering diversity in research and innovation.

This milestone celebration will spotlight:

Inspiring alumni stories and reflections from interns and host organisations
Key insights from the independent Advance HE review
Sector leaders and changemakers shaping the future of inclusive innovation
Intern-led hosting and discussion, showcasing the next generation of talent

Whether you’re a past or prospective intern, host organisation, partner or an all around advocate for equity in STEM, this event offers a chance to connect with the BIP community, explore the programme’s impact, and help shape its future.

Let’s celebrate the achievements, share the learning, and build momentum for the next five years of inclusive innovation in health data science.

For further details on the BIP, follow the intern and host links.

On the Agenda

11:00 – 11:10: Welcome & Opening Remarks
11:10 – 11:20: Advance HE Evaluation Highlights
11:20 – 11:40: Keynote Speaker – Nyambe Sumbwanyambe (Founder of The Black Sherpa and the 29k Club)
11:40 – 12:15: Panel Discussion
12:15 – 12:20: Host Intern Insights
12:20 – 12:30: Closing Remarks

Meet the Speakers

Nyambe Sumbwanyambe

Founder of The Black Sherpa and The 29k Club Nyambe “Yam” Sumbwanyambe is the Founder of The Black Sherpa and The 29k Club, a live learning and advisory community helping capable, values-driven professionals add value, find joy in their work and accelerate their careers... particularly where access and context have not always been equally distributed. With almost 20 years in the UK life sciences sector, he has led work across commercial excellence, learning strategy and culture transformation. He is recognised for making the unwritten rules of career progression visible and actionable… and for helping organisations move from awareness to systems where progress is felt, measurable and repeatable. His award-winning Lead Your Career programme was recognised at the PF Awards for Excellence in Education, and he now partners with both employers and ambitious professionals to build future-ready career ecosystems where talent can thrive by design, not chance.

Peny (Panagiota) Sotiropoulou

Advance HE Researcher Dr Peny (Panagiota) Sotiropoulou is a mixed-methods researcher at Advance HE, specialising in EDI considerations in Higher Education. Peny led on the evaluation of HDR UK's Black Internship Programme. Throughout her career 10-year long career working in HE, she has been involved in a wide array of EDI-related projects as well as programme evaluations. Moreover, she leads on the production and dissemination of Advance HE’s annual Equality in Higher Education: Statistical Reports to assist the sector in better understanding the main equality challenges for staff and students. In general, Peny loves being involved in collaborative projects engaging various stakeholders, as she is a firm believer that co-creation and team-work in combination with evidence-based insights are the driving forces for positive, meaningful change.

Favour Yahdii Aghaebe

BIP Intern Alumna Favour Yahdii Aghaebe is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Sheffield. Her research investigates how large language models can automate the systematic review process in fair, faithful, and trustworthy ways. She focuses on evidence synthesis and risk of bias assessment, addressing the overconfidence of language models and their potential impact on healthcare guideline development. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Favour worked as a Data Scientist, applying data science for the public good. She was part of the 2023 cohort of the Black Internship Program, where she worked with the BHF Data Science Centre and gained valuable skills she continues to use in her research today.

Emmanuel Onyekachi Ughoo

BIP Intern Alumnus Emmanuel Ughoo is a Data Analyst at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), where he leverages data to drive public health insights that impact millions. With a background in biological sciences and an MSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Science from Southampton Solent University, UK, Emmanuel transitioned into data science after seven years in finance. An alumnus of the HDR UK Black Internship Programme, he has developed AI-powered predictive models for cardiovascular healthcare and led published research on HIV treatment optimisation. Passionate about equity and representation, Emmanuel champions inclusive innovation and the creation of diverse pathways into health data science.

Martin Levermore

BIP Advisory Group Chair Professor Martin Levermore, a child of the Windrush generation, is the CEO of Medical Devices Technology International, a member of the PIONEER team (the health data hub for acute care), and a serial entrepreneur. He served in the army and hold a degree in Political Economics. As wellbeing the previous Vice Chair and Treasurer for the Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association – the largest BAME housing association in the Midlands. He is also Chair of Medilink Midlands – a network of over 8000 contacts in over 1700 organisations from all parts of the life sciences sector, from public and private institutions, the NHS, universities, and multi-nationals to high-value start-up companies. Martin is also Group NED for Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust and Walsall Hospital NHS trust, alongside acting as Chair of the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM).

Sandra Nwobi

BIP Intern Alumna Sandra Nwobi is a Data and Insights Officer at NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, where she leads transformative data initiatives across Adult Social Care in Greenwich. She has integrated data-driven decision-making into everyday practice, enabling real-time reporting, strengthening governance, and driving measurable service improvements. Sandra also contributes to the Royal Greenwich AI Core Team, helping shape the responsible use of AI in social care. A former HDR UK Black Intern, she is passionate about inclusive innovation and building ethical, data-informed systems that improve lives.

Andrew Morris

HDR UK Director Professor Andrew Morris is the inaugural Director of Health Data Research UK. He is Professor of Medicine, and Vice Principal of Data Science at the University of Edinburgh, and an honorary consultant physician in NHS Lothian. Professor Morris was elected as the President of the Academy of Medical Sciences in April 2024. In early 2025, Andrew joined the Board of Trustees at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore’s lead public sector research and development agency. Andrew was Chief Scientist at the Scottish Government Health Directorate (2012-2017) and has served and chaired numerous national and international grant committees and Governmental bodies. His research interests span informatics and chronic diseases. He has published over 350 original papers. Andrew was previously Governor of the Health Foundation (2009-2017), a leading UK charity that supports quality improvement in health care, and chaired the Informatics Board at UCLPartners, London (2014-2017). In 2007 he co-founded Aridhia Informatics, which uses high performance computing and analytics in health care. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Andrew was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2018. Andrew was awarded The Royal Society of Edinburgh Medal on the authority of Her Majesty the Queen which recognises exceptional achievement in science, academia and public engagement in 2023.

Dobrin Namboowa

BIP Intern Alumna Dobrin Namboowa is an alumna of the HDR UK Black Internship Programme, where she completed her placement with The King’s Fund in the Policy and Research team. During her internship, she explored the policy implications of GLP-1 medicines, publishing a featured blog that gained national media coverage. Dobrin’s interests lie at the intersection of pharmacy, health data, and policy, and she is passionate about improving access to data-driven insights that support equitable healthcare delivery and innovation across the NHS.

Saul Thorne

Saul Thorne currently manages the Data Science team for Bupa UK Insurance, where he has taken HDR UK BIP Interns for four years in a row. He started his career as an operational research analyst working for the civil service, and came to Data Science in healthcare through a long winding journey, having spent many years in database marketing, customer insight, and data planning. Running through all of these twists and turns was the central principal of using data, analytics, and modelling to improve decision making within organisations. His current team are focused on innovation in the use of Machine Learning and AI across Bupa working across a wide range of use cases. These include use of natural language processing, optical character recognition and generative AI; as well as a traditional supervised machine learning.

Michael Taiwo

Cancer Research UK is one of our BIP host organisations. Michael is a technology leader with expertise in medical science, cloud infrastructure, data, and AI. He is passionate about creating opportunities for early careers talent, having championed initiatives at Cancer Research UK, and hosted two cohorts of interns through the Black Internship Programme.

Areas of work

Talent, Training

Event types

HDR UK Event