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Ian Thompson Bursary enables Conner’s NENA 2023 attendance


Ian Thompson bursary award recipient Conner Fearn is a junior consultant working in public safety who was provided the opportunity to work with Mason Advisory through Grayce,  a UK-based consultancy firm that specialises in providing businesses with junior talent to help them deliver change and transformational projects.

My primary focus is on emergency service control room projects where I have experience in analysing emergency call response times.  In these situations, every second counts – and I am committed to making a difference in the public safety sector. I am passionate about ensuring that emergency services can respond quickly and effectively to those in need.”

Conner’s application for the bursary focussed on the work and analysis he had done around the emergency call response time data available from BT and in particular the time taken for the emergency agency to answer the 999 call when handed off by BT; for Police Forces, their goal is to answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds. His research showed that between November 2021 and March 2023, looking at month by month figures, this was proving difficult to achieve. As a result, he hoped to discover how public-safety communications officials could address this through:

  • Analysis of the data; geographical and seasonal trends
  • Clarity of the data; is the data being treated correctly and what which data is included
  • Use of Technology; is the most efficient method being used
  • People; staffing levels and tech skills
  • International Comparison; the impact of different infrastructure and providers
  • Cross-Service comparison; potential lessons from the Fire and Ambulance service
  • Forward thinking; the role of AI and infrastructure changes

In order to progress his research, Conner will be heading to NENA 2023 in Grapevine, Texas next week where he wants to focus specifically on the International Comparison and Forward-thinking aspects of his analysis – and, amongst a wealth of conference sessions, the NENA 2023 event looks to have several really interesting papers looking at how AI can help improve emergency response.

If you are also attending NENA 2023 and would like to discuss any of the above with Conner while you are there, please connect directly with him on the NENA Event App or email: support@bapco.org.uk.

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