A University of Glasgow project called Waterproofing Data has won the top prize at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Celebrating Impact Awards. The project helps communities in Brazil prepare for and respond to floods by combining community-generated data with analytics.

Waterproofing Data has been used by over 400 citizen scientists in 20 cities across Brazil. It has also led to new projects that will bring the Waterproofing Data approach to all school students living in flood-prone areas in Brazil.

The project team is now seeking funding to expand the use of the Waterproofing Data app to other flood-prone communities around the world.

Project lead is Professor João Porto de Albuquerque in Urban Analytics, based at the ESRC-funded Urban Big Data Centre at the University of Glasgow. 

Collecting the award on behalf of the many collaborative partners, he said: "I'd particularly like to acknowledge the main protagonists of this impact, who are the volunteers and communities who took up our approach with enthusiasm. We're delighted to receive this recognition and would like to extend this impact to other communities around the world."

The Celebrating Impact Prize, now in its 11th year, is an annual opportunity to recognise the success of ESRC-funded researchers in achieving and enabling outstanding economic or societal impact from their research.

Read the full announcement on the University news webpage

First published: 16 November 2023

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