IASS Webinar 46: Mapping population distributions and demographics through geospatial data integration
| Date | 27 Nov 2024 |
| Time | 13:00 GMT+01:00 - 14:30 GMT+01:00 |
| Level of instruction | Intermediate |
| Instructor |
Andrew Tatem
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| Registration fee | |
Accurate, timely and detailed data on human populations and their characteristics are needed to support equitable and evidence- based decision making, monitor progress towards development goals, and assess impacts of natural disasters, conflict and climate change. Unfortunately, recent, reliable and complete data on population distributions, demographics and dynamics can be lacking in many settings around the World. Population and housing censuses are typically conducted only once a decade, registries can be incomplete and inaccurate and household surveys provide a broad snapshot. The advent of detailed and timely data from satellites and cellphones however, as well as improvements in computing power and algorithms to extract information from them, is providing opportunities to complement traditional demographic data sources. Prof Tatem will provide an overview of the work of WorldPop (www.worldpop.org), outlining how geospatial data integration and statistical modelling approaches can produce high resolution and timely data on populations in resource poor settings, and how these are being used by governments and international agencies to plan vaccination campaigns, respond to disasters and update national statistics.
Instructors
About the instructor
Andrew Tatem is Professor of Spatial Demography and Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and is the Director of WorldPop (www.worldpop.org), leading a group of 40 researchers and data scientists. He is interested in how populations, their characteristics and their dynamics can be mapped at high resolution across low and middle-income countries. His research has led to pioneering approaches to the use and integration of satellite, survey, cell phone and census data to map the distributions and movement patterns of vulnerable populations for disease, disaster and development applications. He runs international collaborations with national governments, UN agencies and data providers, and leads multiple research and operational projects funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, World Bank, GAVI, UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and others.