Mark Birkin is Professor of Spatial Analysis and Policy and Director of the Consumer Data Research Centre, University of Leeds. He is currently leading the university’s ESRC research project into Big Data. He edits the journal Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy. His major interests are in simulating social and demographic change within cities and regions, and in understanding the impact of these changes on the need for services like housing, roads and hospitals, using techniques of microsimulation, agent-based modelling and GIS.