Shahan Shahid Nawaz

I am a Data Scientist from Lahore, Pakistan passionate about solving exciting problems through Data Science and Data Visualization.

I hold a BSc (Hons.) Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and the Master of Information Management & Systems from UC Berkeley's School of Information for which I studied Data Analysis, Machine Learning, and Data Visualization.

I currently work at the World Bank Group as a HR Data Analyst.

In the past, I served as a Data Scientist Researcher at the Othering and Belonging Institute's Equity Metrics team where I used Geospatial Data Science (R, Python) to tackle questions of housing affordability and inclusivity including a statewide analysis of the extent and impact of single-family zoning in California.

Before that, I was based in Hong Kong as a Research Analyst at Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society and helped produce cross-regional and one-of-a-kind data analysis spanning 18 Asian economies.

Even before that, I worked under eminent economists as a Senior Data Analyst at the Cente for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) helping implement a randomized controlled trial in Pakistan compirising 113,000 households spread across two metropoles: Lahore and Faisalabad. This study aimed at mending the citizen-state social contract.

I am always available to discuss collaborations or professional opportunities. In my spare time, I build Music Chaat, my show on Pakistani music.

Email  /  CV  /  LinkedIn  /  GitHub

Click on the section below to view a few examples from my Data Science experience.

Othering & Belonging Institute Logo
Single-Family Zoning in California: A Statewide Analysis (May 2024)
Tools: R, Python, Geospatial Analysis

Author and Data Lead for a study of the extent and impact of single-family zoning across all of California (520 cities) using spatial and data analysis (ArcGIS, R) and automation (Python). This project is the Institute’s flagship effort on Zoning Reform. I also helped transition another product’s analysis from Excel to R (currently in use); and wrote testing software in R (testthat) to ensure reliability of a statewide information visualisation tool.

Breakwater Strategy Logo
Excelling at Telling Stories with Data: Learn and Get Inspired (August 2022)

Blogpost and concluding exercise of my 3-month Summer Fellowship at Breakwater Strategy–a boutique strategic communications firm working with household brands–where I provided Data Visualization Leadership. I updated 50+ client-facing customer insights data visualisation slides; templatized my work for reuse and extension; steered a culture of data visualisation by leading 4 bi-weekly company-wide data visualization discussions; and authored a data-viz focused organisational plan to differentiate Breakwater Strategy in the industry.

Cover Page of Doing Good Index 2020
Doing Good Index (August 2020)
Tools: Wireframes, Sketches, PowerBI, Stata

Data Lead for data analysis (Stata) and pioneering presentation style of Doing Good Index 2020, the centre’s flagship research product covering 18 Asian economies, as a scrollytelly platform and interactive dashboard (linked). At large, I helped create a more data-focused org by leading an organization-wide transition from Excel to Stata.