Adelaide University Internship - Meixuan Liao

Welcome Meixuan!

Meixuan Liao has joined our Data Analytics Team for her Adelaide University SET (Sciences, Engineering and Technology) Internship as part of her Master of Data Science, Trimester 2, 2025, from 27 May 2025 to 22 August 2025.

She is completing a 140-hour onsite internship with SAcommunity at the Connecting Up Office, Infoxchange, working 2 days per week over 12 weeks.

Total Hours: 7.5 Joined: 27 May 2025 Last Check-in: 3 June 2025

Personal Biography

Meixuan is currently in her final trimester of the Master of Data Science program at the University of Adelaide, with a diverse background in agricultural science, consulting, and communication. After completing her undergraduate and Honours degree in Agricultural Science, she began her career as a casual Research Computing Staff, focusing on experimental design and statistical analysis. She later worked as an Agricultural Consultant. Currently, she works as a Student Ambassador at the University

At Connecting Up, Meixuan is interning in the Data Analytics team, contributing to projects that support the not-for-profit sector. Besides accumulating experience in data analytics roles within the real-world industry, she aims through this program to gain a deeper understanding of the council and community where she plans to live in the future, and hopes to build connections with the council of her future home.

Infoxchange All Staff Town Hall Meetings 27 May 2025

Great experience attending the all-staff meeting on the first day of the internship at ConnectingUp. The meeting provided essential information about the group’s culture, key work directions, and future development pathways. Through attending the meeting, valuable insights were gained into the organization’s culture and values, operational improvements were learned about, and an understanding of how to deliver customer-centered service effectively was developed. With AI improvements currently emerging, awareness was also gained of the organization’s AI strategies aimed at increasing productivity. This broadened the understanding of AI beyond typical learning tools, highlighting how AI can be integrated into real-world business processes. 

Data Catalyst Network Webinar | Social Scope Sector-led Benchmarking Tool 28 May 2025

Deb Tsorbaris, CEO, Centre for Excellence in Child & Family Welfare,
David Poynter, General Manager Business Development & Research Based Models, Anglicare Victoria, and
Dr Bengianni Halil-Pizzirani, Executive Manager, Innovation & Strategy, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, Director of Research & Evaluation, Impact Initiative, Co-Founder, Synk.ai.

Key Speaker: Dr Bengianni Halil-Pizzirani

This webinar provided valuable insights on how to effectively apply data analytics in the social services sector, particularly for early intervention work with vulnerable children and families. The session introduced user-centered, bottom-up data solutions and discussed methods to leverage user data for collection purposes. Additionally, the ethical dimensions behind the data and the human stories were emphasized as highly important.

Collaboration and iteration are crucial — the project’s ongoing partnership model and phased implementation demonstrate that continuous collaboration and user feedback are key to optimizing data tools and achieving sustainable impact. Technical skills must be combined with a deep understanding of the context and stakeholder needs.

Volunteers and interns have access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform, which offers live and recorded webinars, workshops, and webcons led by subject-matter experts on various technology topics relevant to the not-for-profit sector. Meixuan selected, attended, summarized, and evaluated relevant training sessions to explore how they could enhance her volunteer experience:

CU Webinar: Getting Started with Analytics: Tools, Infrastructure & Data 
Vivek Katial, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Good Data Institute &
Kristen Moeller-Saxone, Data Capability Lead, Infoxchange

This webinar was selected to gain practical insights into the foundational aspects of data management within not-for-profit organizations. The focus on bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world application was particularly relevant for enhancing data analytics capabilities in resource-limited environments. The session explored the data project lifecycle, emphasizing the importance of clearly defined objectives, effective data collection, data cleaning, and ethical considerations.

Skills developed included strategies for managing messy data, applying data validation and conditional formatting in spreadsheets, and automating data workflows. There was also increased understanding of ethical data handling and how to communicate data insights effectively to non-technical stakeholders.The learning experience reinforced the necessity of a structured approach to data projects, starting from alignment with organizational goals through to actionable insights. It provided practical tools and frameworks that support data hygiene and collaboration in not-for-profit settings. 

CU Webinar: Six data collection essentials with Google Sheets & Forms (Recording) 

Chosen for its focus on essential, accessible tools—Google Sheets and Google Forms—that improve data collection and analysis skills. Led by an experienced instructor, the session offered practical, hands-on learning to enhance data management. Since Excel is commonly used, learning these new tools adds valuable skills.

Covered foundational skills in Google Sheets, including quick creation of charts and tables, smart functions like currency formatting and dropdowns, organizing financial data with categories, and dynamic data visualization. For Google Forms, the webinar covered form design, survey structure, extracting summary statistics, and detailed response review. Practical exercises reinforced these skills.

Gained valuable expertise in organizing, visualizing, and analyzing data efficiently. Developed skills to design effective surveys and interpret results, supporting systematic data collection and basic statistical analysis. These abilities are useful for future data analytics work, enabling faster insights and better decision-making