Monthly Archives: December 2019

INGSA2020 Announcements – Keynotes, Get Involved, Registrations open!

Conference Announcements

2020 is just around the corner. Not only will this mark the start of an exciting new decade, it heralds a time of great change as citizens and their governments manage and adapt to a complex array of current and emerging challenges.

INGSA is proud to be hosting its 4th International Conference in Montréal Canada, to continue to interrogate and inform the critical (and contested) intersections between evidence, policy, and society.

Under the conference theme of Evidence in Context – Expanding the Dialogue, INGSA2020 will convene policymakers, politicians, academics, and science advice practitioners from all over the world.

We are excited to be able to announce our line-up of keynote speakers, to open pre-registration for the conference, and to give the members of the INGSA network their chance to suggest sessions and satellites for the meeting. All this information below!

Introducing our Keynote Speakers

  • Her Excellency the Right Honorable Julie Payette
    • The Governor General of Canada
  • Her Excellency Aminata Touré
    • President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Senegal, former Prime Minister of Senegal
  • His Excellency Cheick Modibo Diarra
    • Chair of the Africa Legal Network and former Prime Minister of Mali
  • Prof Naomi Oreskes
    • Professor, History of Science at Harvard University
  • Sir Patrick Vallance
    • Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of the UK
  • Dr Soumya Swaminathan
    • Inaugural Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization
  • Prof Daya Reddy 
    • President of the International Science Council

Suggest a Session or Satellite – Get Involved

If you’ve got a good idea for an interactive parallel session, or a satellite event that will support the goals of INGSA2020, then we want to hear from you now!

For more info, or to download the application templates, see the Get Involved page.

Journals and SuppliesPre-Registrations Open Now!

Did you know that INGSA doesn’t charge conference registration fees?
If you would like to attend INGSA2020, fill out the pre-registration form now to receive more information as it is released.

Register for INGSA2020 now!

Conference Website Now Live

The INGSA2020 official conference website is now live and will continue to be updated with information for delegates.

See it now for more information and to register.

Go to INGSA2020 conference website

Abstract submissions open for PV2020 (Preserving & Adding Value to Data)

The PV 2020 Conference welcomes you to its 10th edition, to be held 12th – 14th  May 2020 at CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research.

CERN is operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and is working on a strategy (as part of the general European Strategy for Particle Physics) that foresees a timeline out until the end of the current century. Some 300PB of data are currently stored in the on-site archive – including data from previous generations of experiments, such as the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP) that took data from 1989 to 2000 – with additional copies at collaborating High Energy Physics institutes around the world.

In contrast to other conferences and workshops on related topics, the PV series has a particular focus on scientific data, often from large scale, multi-national facilities. However, one should not forget that at least a number of the challenges faced are shared with many other disciplines, as is the need for effective collaboration and sharing of ideas and even solutions.

With respect to previous conferences in this series, and whilst maintaining the overall thrust, additional goals for PV2020 include:

  • Attracting more scientific communities
  • Broadening information exchange, sharing of experiences, tools and even services
  • Keeping in step with (or ahead of) funding agencies / policy makers in their push for Long Term Data Preservation and Open Data

As usual, there will be four sessions, this time focussing on the following outline areas:

Session 1: Ensuring long-term data and knowledge preservation (the “P” in PV);

Session 2: Adding value to data and facilitation of data use (the “V” in PV);

Session 3: Short – medium term issues related to policy, technology, guidelines, FAIR / TRUST principles, certification;

Session 4: (Very) long term issues.

A new session (for the PV series) will be a set of “lightning talks” that will have a light-weight review process and for which the call for mini-abstracts will be sent to registered participants after the formal review process of the full abstracts for posters and papers has completed.

Further information can be found here.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Open Data Newsletter: December 2019/January 2020 Edition

UNDRR SRSG Mami Mizutori speaks in Auckland
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction and the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori, recently spoke on resiliency and sustainable development at Tonkin + Taylor’s Auckland office. Click above for a link to the livestream video.

Fiji: Cyclone Early Warning System for Pacific goes live
An operational system has been developed and implemented for the Fiji Islands to produce and disseminate new early warning information on coastal flooding, which will help save lives and protect property in low-lying, populated coastal areas. For more on the CIFDP click the link above, and to listen to an interview with Bapon Fakhruddin on the development of the system, click here.

Countdown starts for Sendai 2020 deadline
Target (e) of the Sendai Framework’s seven targets, sets a 2020 deadline for developing national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction. The same deadline applies to UN member states finalising National Adaptation Plans under the Paris Agreement on climate.

Data For Now Inception Workshop in Rwanda
SDSN TReNDS recently joined the World Bank, the UN Statistics Division, The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and representatives from eight very diverse countries (Bangladesh, Columbia, Ghana, Mongolia, Nepal, Paraguay, Rwanda, and Senegal) in Kigali, Rwanda to discuss priority data needs as part of the new Data For Now initiative.

Bangladeshi farmers reap the benefits of new weather forecasts
Customised weather forecasts delivered to smartphones and rural meeting halls are helping farmers in Bangladesh better manage crops in the field as rain becomes more erratic.

Asia and the Pacific set priorities for accelerated disaster risk reduction
In the face of growing disaster losses and risk in the Asia-Pacific region, government disaster risk management agencies, international organizations, and civil society groups met in Brisbane to agree on priorities for accelerating action for reducing the risk of disasters.

NASA Space Data Can Cut Disaster Response Times, Costs
According to a new study, emergency responders could cut costs and save time by using near-real-time satellite data along with other decision-making tools after a flooding disaster.

Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2019
The Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2019 takes stock, highlighting climate action success stories and the need for conditions conducive to stepped-up climate action, while the Climate Action Pathways suggest transformational actions and milestones towards neutrality in key areas, such as energy, industry, transport, human settlements, water, land use, and resilience to the inevitable effects of climate change.

Protecting our world heritage, insuring our sustainable future
The economic and social costs of natural disasters are escalating, and the insurance protection gap is widening. Protecting World Heritage Sites through their core business activities has been unclear to insurers. This guide shows that collaboration is essential and highlights the increasingly important role that the industry needs to play in protecting World Heritage Sites.

Climate Extremes and their Implications for Impact and Risk Assessment
Climate Extremes and Their Implications for Impact and Risk Assessment describes challenges, opportunities and methodologies for the analysis of the impacts of climate extremes across various sectors to support their impact and risk assessment.

UNDRR: Work Programme 2020-2021
The UNDRR Work Programme 2020-2021 outlines the plans to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The plans are developed in line with the existing Strategic Framework covering 2016-2021 and focuses on the key results under each Strategic Objective of UNDRR.

Total Warning System for Tropical Cyclones
The IWTC is one of the WMO’s major quadrennial workshop series organised by its World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) and Tropical Cyclone Programme (TCP). The main objectives of these workshops were to examine current knowledge, forecasting and research trends on tropical cyclones from an integrated global perspective, and to report on these aspects while offering recommendations for future forecasting studies and research with special regard to the varying needs of different regions.

EGU General Assembly 2020 –  3-8 May, Vienna, Austria
The EGU General Assembly 2020 will bring together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The EGU aims to provide a forum where scientists, especially early career researchers, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of geoscience.

4th Arab Partnership Meeting for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) – 9-10 December – Cairo, Egypt
The 4th Arab Partnership meeting for Disaster Risk Reduction will be held in Cairo, Egypt. The two-day meeting will focus on updating governments and stakeholders on the progress in DRR in the region and will provide an opportunity for governments and partners to discuss the way forward for the region in implementing the Sendai Framework and achieving target E of the Sendai Framework by 2020.

Regional Assessment Report (RAR) on DRR for Arab States 2nd Editorial Committee Meeting (ECM) – 11 December – Cairo, Egypt
The Regional Assessment Report is an important initiative of the UNDRR – Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) that contributes to the achievement of the Sendai Framework through monitoring risk patterns and trends and progress in disaster risk reduction in the Arab region while discussing various challenges and opportunities for development of Arab countries in DRR. The objective of developing this Regional assessment report is to give an overview on disaster risks in the region based on evidence-based analysis.