About the Event
An invite-only international workshop hosted by the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research (DIGHR) and the Lassonde School of Engineering (LSE) at York University that brings together leading humanitarian agencies, data scientists, and developers to collaborate on urgent data-related challenges in humanitarian response.
The Challenge
Humanitarian responders are producing or have access to ever more data in our operational sphere. The question we now face is how can we use this data to improve decision-making in humanitarian response? In this workshop, we will bring together humanitarian organizations, data scientists, and developers to collaborate on a number of specific field-driven challenges that require novel data science-driven solutions.
What We'll Do
EXPLORE
Explore operational challenges relating to data collection, management, analysis, visualization, and decision-making in humanitarian operations.
DISCUSS
Discuss existing data science applications in the humanitarian domain and lessons learned.
CATALYZE
Catalyze new collaborations responding to priority challenges.
Expected Outcomes
During the Workshop, participants will create high-level concepts and business plans to address the specific challenges presented by humanitarian organizations. In the following weeks and months, the DIGHR team will work closely with interested participants in the design, fundraising, and implementation process to make these solutions a reality.
Who is Coming
We will bring together participants from three key groups needed to solve complex humanitarian data science challenges.
Field Experts
Field Workers and Subject Matter Experts from humanitarian organizations (e.g., health, needs assessments, WASH, nutrition). These participants understand the operational needs from the field that require data-driven solutions. They use new technologies and tools to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian response.
Innovation Specialists
Innovation Specialists from humanitarian organizations. These participants understand how to translate field needs and lead the development of solutions to operational challenges. They have a wealth of experience from past projects to share on how to do humanitarian innovation effectively.
Data Scientists and Developers
Software, Information Technology, and Data Science Developers & Researchers from York University and industry. These participants are experienced in building data-driven tools and applications for various types of clients. They seek novel challenges for which to develop solutions that will have positive humanitarian impact.
Event Format
Day 1 Dec 4/2018
On Day 1, humanitarian organizations will present up to five specific challenges to the plenary group. Innovation specialists from humanitarian organizations will present on recent data science-driven applications for humanitarian response in order to share lessons learned for future work. Invited specialists will present on pressing issues relating to the ethics, privacy, security, and governance of big data, as well as the process of developing custom data science applications.
Day 2 Dec 5/2018
On Day 2, we will invite data scientists and developers to team up with humanitarian organizations in working groups to tackle each of the challenges. Groups will collaboratively generate high-level concepts and business plans for solutions with support from a diverse array of experts in the room. Strengths, weaknesses, and next steps for each solution will be discussed in the plenary group.
Where
2nd Floor Convention Space, New Student Centre
15 Library Lane
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada