Actual Analytics Team

Prof Douglas Armstrong was one of the founders of Actual Analytics joining as Chief Scientific Officer in 2008. Douglas started his career in behaviour genetics with a PhD in Genetics from Glasgow University followed by postdocs at Glasgow and Rice Universities looking at the genetic dissection of complex behaviour. Both posts involved the development of new informatics tools to dissect structure/function relationships in the brain and in 2001 he established his own research group at the University of Edinburgh where he is now Professor of Systems Neurobiology.

Ian Murphy joined Actual Analytics in March 2020 but has been commercialising new technologies for 36 years across a wide range of sectors. He started his career in the aerospace electronics industry where he gained experience of negotiating high-value contracts and collaboration deals in many parts of the world. He then moved into the university commercialisation sector at a time of considerable growth. Initially he specialised in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and concluded deals with many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies with particular success building collaborations in Japan on behalf of two of Scotland’s leading universities. Gradually his work started to encompass a wider range of sectors including electronics, software and renewable energy

 He was involved in the early stages of a number of exciting spin-out companies and gained experience on their boards and decided to switch sides and pursue entrepreneurship. He co-founded an Aberdeen based company introducing a new petrophysical technique to the oil and gas industry and concluded contracts with a number of multi-national oil companies. During this time he also provided consultancy services to a wide range of small start-ups and occasionally to universities in the UK and Europe. He is also a director of two subsidiary companies within the Moredun Group and a member of the Audit Committee. The Moredun Foundation is a registered charity that exists to promote the highest possible standards for livestock health and welfare through research and education.

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Outside of work Ian cycles for fitness and plays the electric guitar, but not especially well.

Rowland Sillito joined Actual Analytics at its inception, after receiving his PhD in Machine Learning from the University of Edinburgh, where he developed methods for constructing statistical models of human behaviour from motion trajectory data. This research, along with his background in Neuroinformatics (MSc Edinburgh 2004) and Mathematics (BSc Sussex 2003), laid useful foundations for his work at Actual, which has spanned everything from algorithm development and software engineering to product design and customer engagement. His abiding interest is in the extraction of reliable signals from large, complex datasets. Working to harness the huge inherent potential of ActualHCA data, he is responsible for developing our growing portfolio of digital biomarkers, and is also heavily involved in guiding the development of our product as a whole.

Lesley Hastie is a Principal Software Engineer who joined Actual Analytics in May 2010. Having always been interested in design and understanding how things work, her career started as an electronic technician apprentice. During this time her focus changed to IT support, through which she subsequently found her interest for software engineering. In order to develop this interest further, she studied part-time for a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Software Engineering and graduated with distinction in 1997. Lesley enjoys long walks with her dog but can also be found out running to keep fit.