Visit from Volker Schimmel 17th – 28th September 2023
About Volker Schimmel
Volker Schimmel started his international career 20 year ago when he joined the UN refugee agency in Rwanda. He has since worked for multiple UN organizations (UNHCR, UN OCHA, UNRWA) on forced displacement and worked in multiple countries in Africa and the Middle East. The timespan of his career has coincided with the evolution, if not explosion, in digital capabilities, which have impacted the humanitarian sector dramatically.
He has spearheaded this innovation for UNHCR in areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), data collection and analytics, biometrics and digital (refugee) identity, and predictive analytics, and therefore has a unique perspective on, and insights into, what we would call ‘digital humanitarianism’. Based on his pioneering roles, he was subsequently appointed Deputy Head of the UNHCR-World Bank Joint Data Center. And in 2020, he became the Director of UNHCR’s Global Data Service which puts him at the core of digital transformation of the UN’s global operations.
In this fast-changing displacement setting, the key topics and questions that animate the research, analysis, and policy implementation of the UNHCR’s Global Data Service are:
- What are potential adverse effects of the push for open data (e.g. mosaic effect) and how would the humanitarian approach have to be changed in terms of data protection and human rights of forcefully displaced populations;
- What impact does automated decision-making under imperfect data conditions (which is the norm for ‘digital humanitarians’) have and to what extent can human agency be removed from humanitarian or human rights operations;
- Digital identities (biographic and biometric) and transnational identity, which creates specific regulatory and legal challenges for international organizations such as UNHCR in the context of service delivery (e.g. digital cash) and comes with the added challenge of extending protection of refugees into cyberspace;
- Does the digital space and the transnational identity of organizations such as UNHCR conflict with the fundamental principle of sovereignty and if so, what are the consequences?
- In order to better anticipate future crises, predictive modelling, foresights and big data analytics is needed, especially for population movements to help organizations such as UNHCR to provide faster (emergency) responses.
It is important to emphasize that Volker Schimmel’s own in-field initiatives relating to digital humanitarianism and his current work as Director of the UNHCR’s Global Data Service are regarded as trailblazing in the wider UN system.
Information about Volker's visit to UQ
Volker will be based at UQ from 17-28 September 2023 to explore possibilities for developing continuing collaborative projects and potential linkage grant initiatives between UQ experts and the UNHCR’s Global Data Service.
During Volker's visit to UQ, he has generously offered his time and expertise for a series of activities coordinated by Dr Seb Kaempf in 2023. These activities involve four key engagement pieces:
- Virtual Marketplace of Ideas on Digital Humanitarianism ahead of Volker's visit
- Networking and consultation with UQ academics
- A unique two-day 'Scenario Lab'
- Moderated discussion and Q&A with Volker Schimmel (open to the wider public)
Virtual Marketplace of Ideas on Digital Humanitarianism (open to UQ researchers)
Ahead of Volker's visit, Dr Seb Kaempf coordinated a 'Marketplace of Ideas' session focused on 'Digital Humanitarianism: Forced displacement, AI, data collection and analytics, biometrics and digital (refugee) identity, and predictive analytics.’
The first session was held on the 3rd of May and open to all UQ researchers. In this session, Volker introduced the research work that is animating the UNHCR Global Data Service (GDS). The goal of this session was to provide UQ researchers with an opportunity to listen to, and get a broad sense of, the work and research of the GDS.
The second session was held on the 23rd of May which saw the same group from the first session reconvene. In this session, each attendee was given 3-5 minutes to respond to Volker's discussion from the previous session and express any ideas they have on the work currently being done by the GDS, suggest possible approaches, and demonstrate how they might lend their expertise to Volker's current team.
Networking and consultation with UQ academics (open to UQ researchers)
Volker Schimmel will use the bulk of his visit to UQ to meet with academics across various disciplines to explore potential research collaborations.
Unique two-day 'Scenario Lab' (closed group)
Today, with over 140 million, the numbers of forcefully displaced peoples are already at historic record levels; and these figures, according to even the most conservative estimates, are expected to rise exponentially to 300m by 2030 and to 1.2 billion by 2040. At the same time, new sets of digital technologies (from AI, data collection, predictive analytics, surveillance capabilities, to biometric and digital identities) are growing rapidly and are becoming broadly available to perform a variety of functions, including foresight, strategic direction, recommendations and in all likelihood some level of decision-making. The confluence of these two trends have started opening up a new ‘digital humanitarian space’.
For the UNHCR, the world’s lead organization for the protection of some of the most vulnerable populations (refugees and stateless persons), this rapidly evolving ‘digital humanitarian space’ offers new opportunities, challenges, risks, and dilemmas all at once.
Our two-day Scenario Lab is designed as a thought experiment, aimed at anticipating and addressing how, over the next 20 years, these new sets of technologies will be transforming the work of UNHCR and the world within which it will have to operate.
To explore this question, we are teaming up with Volker Schimmel, the Director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ‘Global Data Service’ and his core team. The Scenario Lab, professionally facilitated by UQ’s ‘What If Lab’ , will bring together a select group of academics (from all disciplines), UNHCR staff, humanitarian aid workers, science fiction writers, hackers, militaries, and artists.
Moderated discussion and Q&A with Volker Schimmel (open to wider public)
Digital Humanitarianism: How tech and data are impacting on UNHCR’s operations
Tuesday 26th September, 5:30PM-6:30PM, 308 Queen street.
Today’s already record-high numbers of forcefully displaced peoples are expected to rise exponentially to over 1 billion by 2040. At the same time, new sets of digital technologies (from Artificial Intelligence, data collection, predictive analytics, surveillance capabilities, to biometric and digital identities) are growing rapidly and are becoming broadly available to perform a variety of functions, including foresight, strategic direction, recommendations and decision-making. The confluence of these two trends have started opening up a new ‘digital humanitarian space’.
For the UNHCR, the world’s lead organization for the protection of refugees, this rapidly evolving ‘digital humanitarian space’ offers new opportunities, challenges, risks, and dilemmas all at once.
This event, open to the public, explores how these new sets of technologies are transforming not just the world within which UNHCR is currently operating but UNHCR’s own work. Our guest is Mr Volker Schimmel, the Director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ‘Global Data Service’. The format is a moderated discussion followed by Q&A (and based on Chatham House rules).
Please register for this event so we can cater to room capacity. To register for this event click here.