A week to build data skills
Love Data Week returns to Northeastern Feb. 9-13 with more than 35 sessions on data, AI and analytics, and a chance to earn a Data & AI Literacy badge.
Whether you actively work with data or want to know more about good data practices, Northeastern University’s Love Data Week offers programming for all experience levels.
The second annual Love Data Week will take place Feb. 9-13, bringing together faculty, staff and data practitioners from across the university’s global network. The event features more than 35 presentations, workshops, case studies and demonstrations, most of which will be held online.
“Data is present all around us, not just at work, but also in our personal lives,” said Susan Gracia, senior associate director for data literacy in the University Decision Support.
Love Data Week is an international celebration of data that began in 2016. Since then, academic institutions, research centers and organizations around the world have marked the week each year around Valentine’s Day to foster a sense of community among data enthusiasts.
Each year’s programming is organized around a central theme, Gracia said. This year’s theme, “Where is the data?”, focuses on the full lifecycle of data, from creation and collection to use, analysis and preservation.
“We’ve got a broad array of sessions,” Gracia said. “We have faculty and staff from Boston, London and other campuses doing the presentations.”
Sessions will run daily from 10 a.m. to about 5 p.m., and all programming will be recorded and added to the data literacy SharePoint site. Topics include AI and emerging technologies, data literacy foundations, student data and analytics, data governance and data culture, among others.
Participants can also attend sessions focused on specific data analysis and visualization tools, including Tableau, Excel, Power BI, Python, Google Looker Studio, Airtable, HubSpot, Workday, Salesforce and HelioCampus.
Ben Jones, a recognized thought leader in the data field and co-founder and chief executive of Data Literacy LLC, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker on Feb. 9, Gracia said.
Participants of Love Data Week can also earn a Data & AI Literacy in Action badge, an official permanent Northeastern credential that can be shared on LinkedIn and professional profiles. To earn the badge, participants must attend at least three hours of sessions, complete event evaluation and one of four pathways: implement a concept or practice from Love Data Week 2026 in their work; share a key takeaway with their team; post publicly about something they learned; or propose a data or AI improvement for their team or department.
Registration for the Love Data Week sessions is now open.
Gracia said Northeastern’s data literacy program for faculty and staff aims to help participants feel more comfortable working with data while developing or refining practical data skills, she said.
In addition to Love Data Week, Gracia organizes introductory data literacy workshops and leadership-focused sessions throughout the year. The data literacy SharePoint site includes courses, online videos, trainings, study guides and other materials organized by data topic.