Adam Dennet, Professor of Urban Analytics at UCL, shares his unconventional path from secondary school teaching to academic research, coding, and community-building. Adam’s story is a testament to the unexpected routes into tech — and the power of staying open to opportunities as they come.

Can you share a bit about your background?

Currently Professor of Urban Analytics in the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London. I’m a geographer by background focusing on the more quantitative and human side of things and a range of interests within that from population, migration and residential mobilities to housing and gentrification, health, beer geographies and almost anything else where there is data and an interesting problem. Prior to being an academic, I trained as a secondary school teacher and worked for a short period of time teaching geography in a state secondary school.

Did you come up through a “traditional” techie route or has your career taken twists and turns along the way?

Probably not. I found maths difficult at school. I didn’t properly learn to program until after I had finished my PhD and I’m pretty much self-taught on that front. But I was always attracted to the computational aspects of geography – spatial analysis, data analytics and that sort of thing. For me, while I am interested in some of the more technical aspects of data science and methods, it’s the application to real world problems that really interests me.

Reflecting on your career, is there a specific moment that stands out as pivotal or defining?

Like most people, it’s your failures rather than your successes that are more formative. I didn’t get a great result in my undergraduate degree. Playing in bands and other extra curricular activities took more of a priority, but I was still annoyed with myself for not doing as well as I knew I could. Three subsequent years as a secondary school teacher were absolutely fundamental to transitioning me from my undergraduate years and instilling a work ethic as about the only route to survival in an incredibly challenging job. When I left teaching to embark on a post-graduate degree, the combined motivation to prove to myself better than my undergraduate results and a new found ability to focus and work smarter is what took me on to a PhD and then into an academic career. I don’t think I would be here now if I had done better as an undergraduate.

What piece of advice would you give your younger self as you embarked on your professional journey?

Don’t try to plan ahead too much and take the opportunities that come along.

Looking ahead, what’s your big prediction for the tech landscape in 2025?

Well it’s all about Large Language Models at the moment isn’t it? I predict they will continue to develop alongside more general use foundation models and people will continuing to weave them into all kinds of different applications for which they were probably never intended, with varying levels of success. The ways in which people build them into their workflows will continue to evolve as well.

Considering your involvement in Silicon Brighton and community-building, what does the concept of ‘community’ mean to you personally? How important is it in the tech industry?

Community is a group of people with some kind of connection – whether it be intellectual, creative, geographical, interest-based etc. who interact with each other either physically or virtually, perhaps sharing news / ideas and/or resources. Who can socialise together, support each other and occasionally challenge one another too.

How do you balance staying updated with the latest industry trends while ensuring continuous personal and professional growth? Any specific resources or practices you find particularly valuable?

I struggle. Twitter used to be excellent before it descended into its current state. I hoped Bluesky would replace it and it might, but my own relationship with social media has probably taken more of a back seat in recent years. Most of the innovations I come across are recommended by students and friends these days.

As someone who has contributed significantly to the community, how do you see mentorship playing a role in the development of the next generation of tech professionals?

It’s central, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be formal. It can be informal too and, either formally or informally, being a good role model or mentor can show what is possible or indeed help convey that we’ve all had challenges along the way as well.

Anything else you would like to promote to our community?

If you are interested in the spatial side of data science and want an opportunity to complete a masters degree while working in your job, our new degree apprenticeship programme might be worth exploring with your employer – https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught-degrees/urban-spatial-science-degree-apprenticeship-msc

Is there any additional wisdom, experience, or anecdotes you’d like to share with our audience?

A friend and colleague of mine once said to me, a very simple philosophy to follow that had served him well was “do good stuff, don’t be a dick.” Hard to argue with that!