Professor Mark Birkin is Deputy Director of the Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service. He has primary responsibilities for partnerships and training, working closely alongside the Director. 

Mark is Professor of Spatial Analysis and Policy at the University of Leeds. He has widespread interests in geographical modelling, individual-based simulation, and evidence-driven approaches to decision-making and policy formulation. 

Mark is Principal Investigator for the Consumer Data Research Centre, which was established at Leeds in 2014. He is also Director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Analytics and Society.

Between 2018 and 2025, Professor Mark Birkin was Director of the Urban Analytics Programme at the Alan Turing Institute. Here, he had a mandate to drive forward innovations in data science and AI within a geospatial context. 

Mark has held advisory roles for the Department for Transport, Geospatial Commission, Connected Places Catapult, FCDO and the Cabinet Office. 

Earlier in his career, Mark was seconded as a company director at GMAP Limited. During this time, he provided strategic advice to organisations such as Asda, Ford, WH Smith, Exxon, GSK and HBoS. 

He was the inaugural Director of the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics.

Meet our other Smart Data Research UK data services teams.