Two Sci-Tech Students Finish First Data Scientist Internships with Ryanair
An ongoing partnership between IE’s Sustainability Datathon and Ryanair prompted the opportunity.
Two master students of the IE School of Science and Technology were the first to take advantage of the new internships offered as Data Scientists at Ryanair thanks to the ongoing partnership between the school and the airline.
The partnership, which started as an alliance for the school’s Sustainability Datathon now includes two three-month spots for master students, chosen by the company during a selection process.
Natalia Clark and Leonardo Dulcetti, the selected students, study the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data. Their internship ran from April to July, a period during which they worked on a project to minimize the delay in Ryanair flights for the 2024 Summer.
Both had pitched their solutions to the airline on maximizing sales and reducing waste at the 2024 IE Sustainability Datathon, a contest to use predictive modelling to solve a real sustainability challenge an actual company.
“Managing a complex, real-life data set definitely allowed me to challenge myself and employ all my knowledge and skills in new ways,” said Dulcetti, “not only have I improved my programming skills but I have gotten valuable real life experience that has been both professionally and personally enriching.”
Dulcetti also underscored the internship’s crucial role in leading to job opportunities, especially having previously faced difficulties accessing data science and analytics roles with a finance-oriented background. He will start a new position in the fall at IBM as Data Transformation Associate working with AI.
“It was an invaluable experience that laid the foundation for the beginning of my career post-grad. I am very thankful to IE Sci-Tech for facilitating this connection,” said Clark, “the Datathon was a great introduction to the types of innovative solutions Ryanair works on; it motivated my desire to see more of the company and culture.”
Previous editions of the Datathon have partnered with Acciona, NTT Data, o9 Solutions and Ryanair in 2022. Raquel Cabero, academic director of the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data, highlighted the importance of such events for students to acquire relevant experience and skills.
“This competition enables participants to practically apply their academic knowledge in collaboration with a real company, significantly enhancing their experience.” said Cabero.
IE School of Science and Technology offers its students opportunities to build a professional portfolio to break into the workplace. Its Impact Xcelerator program provides complementary projects such as the Tech Venture Bootcamp and Management Exponential Technology program to continue to expand students’ knowledge of the latest cutting-edge technologies and build their entrepreneurial skills.