In a celebratory ceremony at Tynecastle Stadium, the winners of the Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Festival & Awards 2025 were announced by the DataKirk, honouring organisations and teams driving progress in Scotland.

The awards venerated advancements in diversity, digital skills, innovation, and sustainability in various organisations and businesses across Scotland.

With an overwhelming number of direct and indirect nominations, DataKirk’s esteemed judging panel certainly had their work cut out for them. The awards presented an opportunity for “inspiration, entertainment, and recognition,” host and executive director of Passion4Fusion, Helena Roger, said.

Following a day of stimulating roundtables and networking opportunities at the Summit, DataKirk finally revealed the winners across ten categories.

Earlier in the day, Richard Lochhead MSP commended DataKirk for its continued success and the expansion of its Summit and Festival over its four years.

“Its a testament to DataKirk how much the event has grown and evolved in such a short space of time,” the Scottish minister for business said.

Heart of Midlothian FC won the Talent Intelligence Award for their data partnership with Jamestown Analytics. Upon winning, Ann Park, director of communications and partnerships, compared Heart’s data acumen to jollof rice.

“Every recipe has its standard ingredients, but there are things that make it really special and a team that puts it all together for a very special recipe that we call: an algorithm,” she said.

The Data Lab won the Special Recognition Award highlighting their special relationship with DataKirk and its founder.

“In the tech sector in Scotland, only 20% of workers are women and about 12% are from ethnic minority background. At The Data lab, half of us are women and nearly a quarter are from ethnic minority backgrounds,” Helen Thompson, CEO of The Data Lab said when accepting the Special Recognition Award which honoured the organisation’s commitment to diversity and partnership with The DataKirk.

Fash Fasoro was one of the first masters students to work with The Data Lab’s programme, going on to found DataKirk.

Recommended reading

• UK Political Tensions Central to Scottish Ethnic Minority Summit
• Datakirk: Championing Scottish Black Talent Year Round
• Scottish Black Talent Summit: People Make Scotland

The winners are as below:

Talent Intelligence Award – Heart of Midlothian FC 

Team Excellence Award – University of Strathclyde 

Best Candidate Experience Award – Police Scotland 

Best Promoter of Digital Skills – ScotlandIS 

Net Zero & Sustainability Initiative of the Year – The Scottish National Investment Bank

Best Use of Technology & Innovation Award – Harvey Nash 

Best DEI Initiative Award – Skyscanner 

Best Employer Brand Award – University of Strathclyde 

Public Sector Team of the Year – Dundee and Angus College 

Third Sector Team of the Year – CEMVO Scotland 

Special Recognition – The Data Lab

Commendation – CodeYourFuture