Elisa Omodei

Assistant Professor at Central European University

Who, where, why: non-traditional data and predictive analytics to map socio-economic vulnerabilities

October 28, 2020 - 12:00 PM Eastern Time

Talk Abstract:

In a rapidly changing world, severely affected by extreme weather events, epidemic outbreaks, economic shocks and conflicts, it is of fundamental importance to understand where the most vulnerable people are, how many they are, and to identify what it is that makes them more vulnerable than others to these threats. During the last decade, research has shown that data such as digital traces, phone metadata and satellite imagery carry relevant information beyond their original purpose and can be used as a proxy to measure socio-economic characteristics and detect vulnerabilities when traditional data is not available. Following an overview of these studies, the talk will deep dive into the UN World Food Programme’s original work on predicting food security. We will then conclude by discussing challenges and limitations, but also opportunities, that come with these approaches.

Speaker Bio:

Elisa Omodei is the Predictive Analytics Lead of the Hunger Monitoring Unit at the World Food Programme’s Research, Assessment and Monitoring division. She also serves as Vice-President Secretary of the Complex Systems Society. She holds a BSc and a MSc in Physics and a PhD in Applied Mathematics for the Social Sciences. After her PhD, she spent a few years in academia before joining the United Nations in 2017, first at UNICEF's Office of Innovation and now at the World Food Programme.