Applying data science to visualize the Venezuelan migration crisis in Colombia
Q2 Impact’s Centre for Global Data Visualization (CGDV) is excited to host its first USAID funded hackathon under LASER PULSE*. From February 13 to March 6, 2020, students from University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad de Antioquia, and Universidad del Norte explored the Venezuelan Migration Crisis (VMC) in Colombia.
The hackathon received a total of 29 submissions. The first place prize went to a group of four graduate students from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business for their submission entitled “A Staggering Exodus into Colombia.” Yun Yan, Yunqi He, Weiyi Zhao, and Zhijing Zhao — otherwise known as team “Why Women Code” — are all part of the one-year Master of Business Analytics (MSBA) program and produced an impressive visualization of how the inflow of Venezuelans has impacted Colombia’s economy and societal development.
Since 2018, CGDV has held hackathons with Georgetown University, Delhi University in India, Emory University, Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, and George Washington University. More information can be found here.
As a global consulting firm with deep expertise in data use and data-driven decision making. Q2 Impact has worked in close to 100 countries over the last 22 years. Q2 Impact integrates data into its work and understands the critical role of data visualization to communicate effectively to non-technical audiences.
Q2 Impact is excited to partner with LASER PULSE and is leading the way in promoting active engagement of students in hackathons such as this and provides a platform for students to showcase their work and engage in important global issues. Students learn to work on real-world data and how data science and data visualization can be being applied in international development and engages them in creating solutions. Q2 and CGDV are committed to our continued engagement on similar topics to engage students globally and harness new digital tools to understand global issues which are timely and relevant.
*LASER PULSE is a program, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). It features a consortium, led by Purdue University, which includes Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University, and Makerere University in Uganda. The acronym refers to Long-Term Assistance and Services for Research – Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine.