The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a virtual public workshop, Data-Informed Societies Achieving Sustainability: Tasks for the Global Scientific, Engineering, and Medical Communities on September 9 and 10, 2021.
The workshop explored how the global scientific, engineering, and medical communities could better facilitate the effective use of data to advance sustainability in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The workshop also discussed crosscutting issues, such as strengthening the engagement of scientific, engineering, and medical communities in efforts to shape the post-2030 agenda on data-related issues, addressing disparities in the ability of societies to utilize data, and highlighting insights and lessons learned from global experience with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The workshop brought together participants from governments, the private sector, academia, and nongovernmental and international organizations involved in data and the SDGs. The workshop was jointly organized by the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI) and Science and Technology for Sustainability Program (STS), and supported by the George and Cynthia Mitchell Endowment for Sustainability Science and Schmidt Futures as part of BRDI core activities.
Details are available below, including a list of panelists and other speakers, as well as an agenda including timing of the individual panels and descriptions of the panel themes. A video of all the sessions and selected speaker presentations can also be accessed below. A brief summary of the workshop discussions was issued and widely distributed to the sustainability and data science community.
Workshop Agenda
Thursday, September 9, 2021 (10:00 am – 2:00 pm EDT)
Welcome from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Tom Arrison (National Academies)
Goals for the Workshop
Nebojsa Nakicenovic (IIASA and Workshop Chair)
Framing Remarks
Moderator: Nebojsa Nakicenovic (IIASA and Workshop Chair)
Speakers: Philip Bourne (University of Virginia) and Claire Melamed (Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data)
Session I: Big Data, Digitization, and COVID-19
Panel 1: COVID-19, Big Data, and Digitalization: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward
Moderator: Barend Mons (Leiden University Medical Center)
Panelists: Sheldon Himelfarb (PeaceTech Lab); Carly Kind (Ada Lovelace Institute); Wayne Koff (Human Vaccines Project); and Francisca Onaolapo Oladipo (Federal University Lokoja and VODAN Africa)
Panel 2: Big Data and Digitalization for promoting Equity and Equality in Sustainability Efforts
Moderator: Luis Bettencourt (University of Chicago)
Panelists: Joshua Blumenstock (University of California, Berkeley); Heide Hackmann (International Science Council); Richard Heeks (University of Manchester); and Sheela Patel (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers)
Friday, September 10, 2021 (10:00 am - 1:20 pm EDT)
Welcome and Re-Cap from Previous Day
Nebojsa Nakicenovic (IIASA and Workshop Chair); Tom Arrison (National Academies)
Session II: Big Data, Digitization, and the Sustainable Development Goals
Panel 3: Digitalization, Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), and the SDGs: What should be measured and how?
Moderator: Aleksandra Berditchevskaia (Nesta)
Panelists: Joy Bonaguro (State of California); Alexandre Caldas (United Nations Environment Programme); Miguel Luengo-Oroz (United Nations Global Pulse); and Sarah West (Stockholm Environment Institute)
Panel 4: Role of Big Data in Our Digital Future
Moderator: Jeanne Holm (City of Los Angeles)
Panelists: Pedro Conceição (United Nations Development Programme); Huadong Guo (Chinese Academy of Sciences); Jennifer Pahlka (Code for America); and Himla Soodyall (Academy of Science of South Africa)
Summary Remarks
Solomon Hsiang (University of California, Berkeley)
Next Steps and Closing Remarks
Nebojsa Nakicenovic (IIASA and Workshop Chair)