Data-Driven Determination on and off the Water: Tom Macky

By Mark Taylor

An intrigue in datasets and analysis is fitting for Tom Macky in more ways than one.

The level of scrutiny and review that goes into a normal Boat Race season is largely unknown to those that tune in to see the annual tussles on the Tideway. Months and months are spent focusing on ergometer outputs, seat racing and much more in order to perfect the crews for the big day. While the onus in a rowing sense is on the CUBC coaching staff, it is a world in which Macky is all too familiar with in his studies.

With a background of an economics degree from Harvard, the St Edmund’s College student has applied big data analysis in his MPhil in Education, Globalisation and International Development.

“Throughout my undergraduate degree I learned how to harness big datasets to evaluate the effectiveness of certain policies that aim to improve socio-economic circumstances for people”, explains Macky. “Now I’m looking at how you can improve systems of schooling for disadvantaged students. The discourse focuses a lot more on low-income countries. There are also a lot of other cases and I’m specifically looking at Australia, which is a high-income country, but there is still a lot of educational inequality there. It is one of the most unequal schooling systems in the OECD and there are definitely, within Australia, contexts that are the equivalent to what you might see in poorer countries, due to this inequality.”

While the scope may seem quite broad, Macky, who is supported by a scholarship from The Ramsay Centre, is currently focusing on two specific projects.

“One is looking at patterns of where disadvantage is concentrated within schools across Australia, whether it is geographically or whether that is by school sector or whether it is by disadvantaged students being left behind in government or public schools while more well-off, higher SES students attend fee-paying schools”, he says. “Then I’m also evaluating Australia’s Closing the Gap policy which aims to essentially close the gap between indigenous schooling outcomes and non-indigenous schooling outcomes, among other things, in Australia. One of my research questions asks how relevant these policies are, and how relevant the Australian school curriculum is for indigenous students, including those living in remote contexts.”

Studying and rowing have long been complementary to each other for Macky.

He took up the sport in Year 7 at school in Melbourne, Australia, and has rowed consistently throughout, during his time at Harvard and now with CUBC.

“I guess I’m used to it, but it also means that if you’re excelling in one domain it is very complementary to the other domain,” he says. “If you’re on top of all your assignments or your work then you’re going to be able to focus a lot more if you have a big race coming up, for instance. That also entails that you have to ensure that one doesn’t get in the way of the other.”

“You can’t afford to be pulling all-nighters like most students can and will often do. You need to be completing your assignments ahead of the deadlines, otherwise you’re not going to be able to get up and give your best performance the next day.”

It is an aspect that has impressed Macky during the six-month Boat Race programme.

“Everyone here is extremely dedicated to both rowing and whatever their field of study is,” he says. “There is a lot of buy-in into the programme, and so I think that – coupled with the strength of the technical model that we get from the coaches – just builds a lot of trust in what we’re doing.”

“Having that trust and confidence is pretty key.”

And that will all come to the fore on April 13, when Macky and his crew-mates will be dependent on each other as they bid to keep the threat from Oxford at bay on the Tideway.