Webinar: Promise and Perils of Data Science for Development
 Date: Thursday, May 25, 9:00- 10:00 AM EST 

Panelists:

  • Dr. Ben Morse, PhD, Social Impact, Technical Director, Impact Evaluation
  • Dr. Jeremy Springman, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Senior Research Associate, Department of Political Science and DevLab@Pennn 
  • Dr. Stefanie Falconi, PhD, USAID, AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow

This webinar will discuss how data science can be used to improve development effectiveness. Highlighting both the promise and perils of these methods, the presentation showcases recent projects that use machine learning to improve program targeting at USAID and to develop forecasts of political events to inform USAID strategy. The presentation will conclude with critical reflections from within USAID on the promise and pitfalls of using data science for development.

Speakers for this session will include data scientists from Social Impact, the Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI)-DevLab@Penn, and USAID. The specific projects that will be featured include:

To attend this webinar, please register via this link.

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View this session’s recording here.


Evidence for Impact is a webinar series hosted by Social Impact. The purpose of Evidence for Impact is to shine a spotlight on examples and innovations in generating and using evidence to improve program outcomes. It features program leaders and researchers who exchange ideas, experiences, and resources on how to make faster and more effective use of evidence and learning to drive programming and policy decisions.

Social Impact is a global management consulting firm that is dedicated to improving the effectiveness of programs through planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning.