Last week, WorldPop held “Mapping the Future of Spatial Demography”, an event to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It was a great success, bringing together technical experts, researchers, and policy makers for an afternoon filled with insightful presentations and engaging discussions. Event participants came from a wide variety of sectors and disciplines, each with an interest in small area population data, which contributed to a vibrant atmosphere and thought-provoking conversations.
Keynote speakers delivered exceptional presentations, offering fresh perspectives on the future of spatial demography, with examples from global, to regional to country-specific scenarios. The panel discussions were particularly stimulating, sparking meaningful dialogues on the evolving role of demographic data in global development in the rapidly changing world.
Participants took full advantage of the opportunities to learn more about WorldPop’s activities during the poster and demo sessions, which were run by the members of WorldPop team. The 25 posters and 8 demo stations showcased research, methods, applications, new tools, datasets, impact case studies, and a brand-new WorldPop AI Assistant drew widespread interest and interaction. You can review all of the WorldPop posters on our website.
The networking breaks were dynamic and lively, allowing attendees to connect, exchange ideas, and discuss potential collaborations. The positive buzz throughout the afternoon reinforced the importance of such events in fostering community and engagement within the field.
Coming in the next few weeks will be our new 2015-2030 annual age and sex structured global 100x100m gridded global datasets from WorldPop’s Global 2 project. Additionally, look out for our open ‘Book of Methods’ and training manual, together with many new research publications, small area population datasets, tools and applications. Please follow our news channels and social media for more information.
The WorldPop team enjoyed hosting the event, and we would certainly like to continue convening such events in the future. Some of these events will evolve as part of our engagement activities and the creation of a Community of Practice through new funding from the Wellcome Trust. We hope that the energy and enthusiasm generated at the conference will serve as a catalyst for new collaborations and continued engagement.
Presentations from our invited speakers
- A Vision for Global Population Research – Professor Jane Falkingham
- Future Population Trends and Their Measurement – Dr Patrick Gerland
- Supporting decision makers with evidence to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals: Examples from Africa – Professor Nyovani Madise
- Collaborations between National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), Colombia and WorldPop – Dr Piedad Urdinola
- Mapping the Use of Gridded Population Data Across the United Nations – Ms Rohini Sampoornam Swaminathan
Enjoy a selection of photographs from the day
