Leading in the Digital Age

Dr Tara French, Digital Inclusion and Design Lead, Digital Health and Care, Scottish Government

Dr Tara French is passionate about genuine co-design and human rights based approaches to delivering sustainable transformation in social care and health, with a focus on equality and inclusion. She has an interdisciplinary background in academia, policy and practice where her work has spanned all sectors of health and social care (NHS, social care, third and independent, government, academia and industry partners). 

Tara is known for her thought leadership in digital social care and health, where her collaborative work has led to the creation of the 'Care Technologist' role in Social Care, the co-production of human rights principles for digital health and care, and has contributed to driving forward the value of person-owned data and social care data in service design.

Tara’s expertise lies in leading large scale, complex transformation programmes using a combination of strategic, systems and service design, and change management approaches. She has worked predominantly within health and social care transformation having spent over a decade working with all sectors in Scotland on national and local programmes, mainly in the context of digital innovation and health and social care integration.

Currently Tara leads the Digital Inclusion Programme for Digital Health and Care at Scottish Government. 

Emma Scatterty, Digital Leadership Specialist Lead, NHS Education for Scotland

Emma is at the forefront of developing digital leadership capabilities across Scotland's health and social care workforce. As part of the Building Digital Skills and Leadership Programme, commissioned by the Scottish Government and COSLA, Emma plays a pivotal role in equipping leaders with the skills needed to navigate and lead in the digital age. 

Emma leads the delivery of the Digital Health and Care Leadership Programme (DLP) and facilitates various leadership training initiatives tailored to empower individuals and teams across the sector. With a professional background in workforce development, particularly within the housing and social care sectors, Emma also holds an MSc in Human Resource Management and a Postgraduate Certificate in Leading Digital Transformation in Health and Care.

Emma is passionate about building the networks and resources which empower current and aspiring digital leaders to drive and deliver change in their organisations to bring value to both staff and citizens. 

Marc Beswick - Digital Education and Adoption Lead, Digital Health and Care, Scottish Government

Marc is currently leading on enabling public services to embed Near Me as part of "business as usual" plus other digital tools. With an occupational therapy background specialising in Children and Family practice, Marc was previously an AHP Practice Education Lead. Marc is currently working with Higher Education Institutes to enable them to use Near Me to support health and social care students' learning outcomes related to digital capability and video consultation skills. In addition, Marc  is part of a team exploring how Microsoft 365 can facilitate cross organisation collaboration in public services.