It’s Instagram official: USQ grad a “Decision Scientist” for social-networking app
USQ alumnus Dr Chris Dowsett is in the heart of the fast-paced digital-media landscape, leading Marketing Analytics and Decision Science for social networking app Instagram.
“My biggest learning from living and working in Silicon Valley for over five years now has been to embrace the speed and accept that things are going to change. And change quickly,” he said.
“However, you can thrive in this sort of environment if you focus on the ability to adapt, lean on transferable skills or ways of thinking, and make ongoing learning an essential part of week-to-week plans.”
The year is 2010. 
Dr Chris Dowsett has enrolled to study a Doctorate of Professional Studies at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ).
He has just moved to the United States to work in marketing and analytics, measuring a thing called ‘social media’.
Instagram is launched… an event, unbeknown to him, that would play a big part of his life.
“My official title is a Decision Scientist. It is similar to a data scientist but the main difference being all my analysis, visualisations and work is done in the context of a business decision that needs to be made,” Dr Dowsett said.
“In short, I use tools like statistics and machine learning to help senior business leaders make decisions.”
Originally hailing from the Sunshine Coast, Dr Dowsett completed an undergraduate degree in Social Science and decided to head overseas to pursue a career, he just didn’t know what that was going to be yet.
“My mum’s side of the family is English and at the time I hadn’t seen them since I was four years old,” he said.
“It sounds a little crazy to say it out loud now, but at 20 years old I boarded a plane with two hundred dollars to my name and the hope that I’d find a job very (very) quickly once I landed.”
The precarious plan paid dividends and he spent five years in the United Kingdom, three with the Office for National Statistics as a statistical officer and social research, and two years with a market research company as a quantitative research specialist.
“This was about the time when ‘big data’ was just starting to become a trend and the ‘analytics’ profession was starting to become a popular focus area for the business world,” Dr Dowsett added.
His career progressed with a stint in advertising analytics in Singapore before being headhunted to lead an advertising and social media analytics program in the United States.
In 2015, he graduated from USQ with a Doctorate of Professional Studies completed part-time over five years.
When it came to choosing a university for his Doctorate, he said it was a reasoned but easy decision.
“I was looking for a Doctorate-level program that wasn’t just theoretical, but was focused on useable, real-world applications and would benefit my career in a tangible way,” he said.
“The Doctorate of Professional Studies at USQ was the perfect fit in this respect because the guiding philosophy of the program is focused on encouraging students to produce research knowledge and/or new tools that would have tangible, real-world benefits.
“I’d also heard excellent things about studying off-campus. I was living in the US at the time so needed a program that could cater to me living and working on a completely different time zone than Australia.
“Looking back, I am really glad I chose USQ. I was always encouraged to think about how my Doctorate would be applicable to my career and to the business world which not only helped me frame my thinking but continues to benefit me in my career to this day.”
In his latest role with Instagram Dr Dowsett leads a team responsible for all of the marketing measurement and analytics. This includes everything from benchmarking, planning and strategy, measurement, machine learning, geospatial analysis, and visualisation.
Living in San Francisco and based in the Silicon Valley during the social media boom, Dr Dowsett has had grandstand seats in the face-paced digital world.
He has managed to not only survive but thrive by adapting, leaning on transferrable skills or ways of thinking and continuous learning.
“My most fundamental philosophy is to try anything and everything and to take opportunities even if you’re not sure that you can do it,” he said.
“I strongly believe that there is an incredible value from learning and trying as much as you possibly can – whether it’s a new work project, a class, a new hobby or a new job. I believe that the more things you try, the more creativity you can bring because you’ll have a wealth of experience to draw from.”
Image: Dr Chris Dowsett.