Applications are open for UN-SPIDER Bonn International Conference 2019.

Natural and man-made disasters cause tremendous damage to societies around the world. They lead to loss of lives and property, displace people from their homes and destroy livelihoods. Further, they also disrupt sustainable development efforts worldwide. Convinced that space technologies can play a vital role in supporting disaster management, UNGA established UN-SPIDER in 2006. UNOOSA implements the UN-SPIDER program. The General Assembly mandated UN-SPIDER to provide universal access to all countries and all relevant international and regional organizations to all types of space-based information and services relevant to disaster management to support the full disaster management cycle.

In recent years, the quality of satellite sensors, access to and use of satellite imagery and Earth observation services has significantly improved, with more and more space agencies embracing open data policies that facilitate access to archived and up-to-date imagery. Such remotely-sensed data can be combined with in-situ information from a variety of sensors and with other data sources such as crowdsourced geotagged images to generate relevant information. Through Big Data approaches, diverse data sources can be used synergistically to create insights that would not be possible through the exploitation of a single source. The increasing presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques in remote sensing, such as deep learning, helps mine the massive amounts of big space data more efficiently, for instance, to quickly determine whether a road is still passable or not following a disaster.

UN-SPIDER Bonn International Conference will address the present issues. Further, it will continue identifying challenges, highlight solutions and encourage partnerships for using space technologies for disaster management in Africa.

Objectives and expected outcomes

The UN-SPIDER Bonn International Conference aims to contribute to increased use of big space data approaches and satellite-based application in African countries to respond to challenges posed by natural hazards. More specifically, the event aims to:

• Showcase recent advances and identify challenges to the use of space-based information; big data approaches and artificial intelligence techniques such as machine learning in disaster management in Africa.
• Present and provide a hands-on experience of space-based applications. Further, it will provide tutorials on technical solutions ranging from standalone desktop packages to cloud computing environments; that facilitate the access to and use of space-based data and information products for disaster management.
• Build on the outcomes of UNOOSA international conferences and symposia to identify capacity-building needs and opportunities regarding full use of the increasing amount of space-based information and new techniques to access, combine, process, analyze and present the data.
• Provide a forum to discuss partnerships to facilitate access to data and applications tailored to the needs of disaster management stakeholders in Africa.

Financial support

Due to funding constraints, the organizers will be able to offer support to only a limited number of participants. The support will defray the cost of travel and/or room and board expenses during the duration of the event.

Moreover, the applicants may register for a place at the conference via online portal available at the website.

Timeline

Application for UN-SPIDER Bonn International Conference is open until September 13, 2019. However, the deadline for applicants seeking funding is 30 August 2019.