| Dr John Quinn, UN Global Pulse Kampala, Uganda |
| Tue 11 Aug 2015, 11:00 - 12:00 |
| Informatics Forum (IF-4.31/4.33) |
If you have a question about this talk, please contact: Brittany Bovenzi (bbovenzi)
Speaker: Dr John Quinn, United Nations Global Pulse
Title: Telecoms data analysis for disaster response and humanitarian planning
Date: Tuesday 11 August 2015
Time: 11:00-12:00
Location: Room 4.31/4.33, Informatics Forum, University of Edinburgh
Chair: Chris Williams, Director of the EPSRC CDT in Data Science, University of Edinburgh
Abstract:
A lack of timely information can hamper humanitarian efforts, for example in the aftermath of natural disaster, during infectious disease outbreaks, or for planning in developing countries without comprehensive national statistics. Conventional methods of data collection in these contexts, e.g. based on household surveys, are slow and expensive to administer. Significant new data resources have been emerged, however, as a byproduct of the widescale use of mobile phones across the developing world. By extracting statistics from billing records collected by telecoms operators, for the first time it is possible to observe phenomena such as population movements and economic behaviour in real time and at population scale. This talk will describe work on applying such analysis in Uganda and other countries in Africa.
Further information about John Quinn: http://air.ug/~jquinn
The CDT in Data Science Seminar series, held by the EPSRC CDT in Data Science at the University of Edinburgh, invites speakers from academia to discuss research in data science. The seminars are open to all and will be of particular interest to students, academic and technical staff.