Using NLP for Public Digital Reviews of Social Housing in Manchester

In 2024, the introduction of Tenant Satisfaction Measures has put feedback from tenants at the forefront of data collection for Registered Housing Providers in Greater Manchester. Concurrently, the discourse surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains charged with both enthusiasm and uncertainty. This project seeks to harness the capabilities of AI-driven Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyse community sentiment about social housing in Manchester. By systematically examining publicly available data, specifically social media reviews, we aim to uncover concerns, emerging trends, and potential areas for enhancement within social housing services. This initiative not only highlights the transformative potential of AI in understanding tenant perspectives but also underlines its role in bringing about meaningful improvements in social housing provision.

The Speakers:

Dr. Guy Marshall is Visiting Researcher at the University of Manchester’s Department of Computer Science. Formerly Simon Industrial Fellow, he completed his PhD in AI (on NLP system representation) in 2022, and continues to publish research and speak regularly on the topics of organisational transformation, AI, and technical drawings. He coaches and trains leadership of Housing Associations about IT and AI strategy. His research uses mixed methods, and can be viewed here: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Gx8xcGcAAAAJ . He has done several post-docs, including with LSHTM to support SPI-M during covid, and with the Turing Institute on Digital Twins for the urban environment.
In addition to his recent research, he holds a MSc in Theoretical Physics from Kings College London, an MA in Mathematics from University of Cambridge, and is a Chartered Mathematician. He is currently Director of PorthouseDean Structural Engineers, consults through Fuza Ltd, and sits on the board of One Manchester.

Dr. Krystyna Ambroch completed her PhD in Economic Sciences at Wrocław University of Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Management. She has also an MSc in Mathematics.
Krystyna also completed Postgraduate Studies in Management of Research Projects and Commercialization of Results, at Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Economics.
She worked for 13 years as adiunkt (lecturer/researcher) for Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, and Faculty of Management and Economics, specialising in Mathematical Statistics and applications of Statistics in Economic Sciences.
She possesses 8 years of participation in seminars: "Mathematical Statistics and other Probabilistic Applications" at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Mathematics in Warsaw.
She has also 7 years’ experience in the commercial sector, e.g. as Database Administrator, Decision Science Modeller, Advanced Analytics Modeller, and Data Scientist.
She is professionally experienced in modelling, from complex statistical models, data mining, to Machine Learning, Deep Learning, NLP, Generative AI with Large Language Models. Currently, she is leading the AI Study Group at Manchester Statistical Society.

Cover image generated by Midjourney, with the prompt: "happy residents of social housing in manchester, uk., 2024. colour photograph"