Data–Pop Alliance has been conducting ongoing research on Big Data, climate change and environmental resilience. With funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID), we published a synthesis report evaluating the opportunities, challenges and required steps for leveraging the new ecosystem of Big Data and its potential applications and implications for climate change and disaster resilience. The report fed into the World Humanitarian Summit to be organized in Istanbul in May 2016.

This is the second video in a series of companion pieces that offer insights from the synthesis report.

This companion video to the synthesis report “Big Data for Climate Change and Disaster Resilience: Realising the Benefits for Developing Countries,” was funded by UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) was designed to probe experts to speak more about their work and their ideas about the potential and challenges of Big Data.

Titled “Big Data for Climate Change and Disaster Resilience: Two Experts on their Work,” this video goes into detail about the work of two experts at the intersection of Big Data and climate change and resilience. The video features two experts: Linus Bengsston and Bessie Schwarz.

Linus, a key contributor to the synthesis report, speaks in depth about Flowminder’s work using molbile operator data to follow how data can be used after earthquakes. The work Linus speaks about was a case study selected by DfID and included in the original report. Bessie, a co-author of the synthesis report, speaks of her work at Cloud to Street where she harnessed satellite and social media data to contribute to a better understanding of flood resilience.

Linus Bengsston (@flowminder)

Dr. Linus Bengtsson is Executive Director and Co-founder of Flowminder Foundation. He pioneered the use of mobile operator data to monitor population displacement during the 2010 Haiti earthquake and to predict the spread of cholera during the same year in Hati. His academic research at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, focuses on public health applications of information technology in low-income settings.

Bessie Schwarz (@Bessieschwarz)

Bessie Schwarz is the Co-Founder of Cloud to Street and a Data-Pop Research Affiliate. She is a political and communications strategist developing innovative methods for engaging and mobilizing citizens on environmental issues. Bessie is currently the Communications and Outreach Director for the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

For more on our series: