Dr Fazilat Dar

Fazilat Dar had pursued almost 10 years of academic study before he joined the GSS as a Fast Stream Assistant Statistician in 2005. After graduating with a BSc in Physics from the University of Dundee, he went to the University of Aberdeen where he gained an MSc in Medical Physics and a PhD in Bio-Medical Physics and Engineering.

During his time in the Fast Stream, Fazilat has been able to get involved in three very different areas of government work. "I started off at the Department for Transport where I was responsible for road accident statistics. I produced statistics on drink driving and took the lead on complex analysis of road accident injury by make and model of car. It was great to be working on an area of policy that affect millions of people and genuinely saves lives.

For my second post, I led on the production of homelessness statistics, which involved working with a wide range of stakeholders and included paying visits to homeless shelters. In fact, being able to see the 'data' in real life was a real highlight for me.

I am currently embedded as a statistician in the Government Olympic Executive. My responsibility is to coordinate the evaluation of the 2012 Olympics, which, for now, involves getting buy-in from senior people across various government departments.

The fact that you can change roles fairly regularly on the Fast Stream is extremely beneficial, as it allows you to pick up an enormous amount of experience very quickly. It also means that with each new placement you think to yourself, 'Right, I've got 12 months here to really make a difference'."