"Exploring Web-Available Data for Macro-indicators of Humanitarian Intervention in the aftermath of Disasters"

Impact of AI tools in Teaching, Learning and Business; Business Analytics; Blockchain/ Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and the Third Sector; Social Media and Text Analytics.

Thesis Abstract:

In 2015 US$28bn was spent in international humanitarian assistance, of this US$10.8bn was raised through United Nations coordinated appeals; 45% short of the US$19.8bn needed by the United Nations. As pressure increases to do more with less, measuring the effectiveness of past humanitarian aid to inform the response to future disasters becomes an imperative. In the humanitarian domain, however, the difficulties and obstacles to obtaining authoritative empirical data to evaluate the effect of humanitarian intervention at the detail level are significant.

In response, this study explores the ability of Web-available curated data in providing macro-level indicators of humanitarian intervention in the aftermath of disasters. In so doing it identifies three macro-level indicators that suggest mean disaster survival rates when plotted by year, by humanitarian aid per person and by population growth may signpost the effectiveness of humanitarian intervention.

En-route to finding these macro-indicators, the study clarifies the need for domain-specific key data artefacts, referred to here as data scaffolds, to support viable data analysis; develops a Data Veracity framework (DVf) as a toolset to equitably and consistently evaluate the veracity of sourced data; defines a prototype Master Disaster Classification (MDC) model; and creates a baseline amalgamated Master Set of Global Disasters (MSGD). Finally, over and above the knowledge contribution of these created artefacts and the design theory that they support, this work provides a foundation for future research in the humanitarian and data science domain.

Professional Awards Attained to date

• SAS Certified Base Programmer for Base 9
• SAP Certified Business Associate with SAP ERP 6.0
• Prince 2 Certification
• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)
• Graduate Learning and Teaching Programme Certificate
• Professional Certifications in e-Commerce and Web Development
• APICS: Certificate in Production & Inventory Management

Subjects (2013 – now)

• Business Process Applications (inc SAP) [UG] (RHUL)
• Information Systems Theory & Practice [PG] (RHUL)
• Enterprise Systems (inc SAP) [PG] (RHUL)
• Social Media & Web Analytics [PG] (RHUL)
• Operations Management [UG] (RHUL)
• Quantitive Methods [UG] (RHUL)
  
• Operations Management [UG] (RHUL)
• Foundations in Digital Enterprise [UG] (RHUL)
• SAS Base Certification [PG] (Brunel University)
• Data Management and Business Intelligence [PG] (Brunel University)
• Data Visualisation [PG] (Brunel University)
• Robot Group Project [UG] (Brunel University)

• Specialist Systems & Software employed:

  • SAP ERP
  • SAS Base
  • SAS JMP Pro
  • Visual Paradigm

  Visual Paradigm provides access of their online UML tools, BPMN tools and agile development tools to students and lecturers of Royal Holloway, University of London.

   

Independent Consultant/Short-term Roles (1996 – 2009) reverse order

• Value Wales, Welsh Assembly – Consultant
• Barnsley Metropolitan Local Authority –  Consultant
• Department for Works & Pensions (DWP) – Consultant
• ThomsonFly Airline –  Consultant
• Network Rail –  Supply Chain Programme Director
• British Airways (BA) – Consultant
• Interim Technology Consulting – Practice Director, Legacy Systems & Emerging Technologies
• Canadian Pacific Ships– Consultant
• Gartner Group –  Research Director
• Sapience Consulting – Consultant
• Glaxo Wellcome – Consultant

Corporate Career Roles (1981 – 1998) reverse order

• Nortel Networks –  IT Director (Europe)
• BUPA – IT Re-engineering Programme Manager
• BUPA – Head of Business Systems
• Sun Microsystems – Senior Programme Manager (European Supply Chain Re-engineering)
• Sun Microsystems – Business Systems Manager (Global Supplier Management)
• Sun Microsystems – Business Analyst (Start-up to Full Volume Production)
• Compaq Manufacturing – Business Analyst
• Digital Equipment Corporation –  Business Analyst
• Coats Pacesetter Limited –Business Analyst
• Clydesdale Bank – Analyst/Programmer
• Jordanhill College – Analyst/Programmer
• Elida Gibbs – Analyst/Programmer