Working with communities & industry partners
Working with communities to improve resilience to flooding
As part of his commitment to include diverse voices in urban data analytics, Prof. João Porto de Albuquerque engaged people from structurally marginalised communities in Brazil to map flood-prone areas and generate new data on flood events.
João's team (including colleagues from the universities of Warwick, Heidelberg, Fundacao Getulio Vargas and from Brazil’s National Centre for Disaster Monitoring and Early-Warning) engaged with school students and teachers, community volunteers, older people as well as institutional stakeholders to understand their experiences of flooding and co-produce novel methods to generate, circulate and use flood-related data.
As a result, a guide for schoolteachers and a mobile app were developed informing the practice of over 26 schools and 18 civil protection agencies, who so far engaged more than 400 citizen scientists located in more than 20 Brazilian cities for improving the resilience of communities to flooding.
Data-driven community science changes the way communities deal with flooding (video)
This innovative approach to citizen engagement and data generation, which can easily be scaled up, has the potential to empower communities around the world to prepare and defend themselves against floods and other extreme weather hazards associated with climate change.
In recognition for this work, João and his colleagues were 'Highly Commended' in the 'Mobilising Research into Action' category of the Emerald Awards 2023, which celebrates researchers who go above and beyond to make a difference to their communities. João’s project was also an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Celebrating Impact Prize 2023 finalist and appeared on the shortlist for the Times Higher Education Awards 2022 Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Developing an online video game
As part of his interest in racial inequalities, inclusive data and sustainability, Dr Mark Wong partnered with a tech start-up Education Evolved, the Ethnic Minority Environmental Network, The Floating Designer and the Glasgow's Games and Gaming Lab to develop a video game. The game called SEvEN: Seven Voices, One Future is the first of its kind and amplifies minoritised ethnic voices to tell a story of a sustainable Scotland.
Set in a virtual replica of Scottish Highlands, re-constructed based on satellite images, players get to interact with seven narratives and mini-games. These are based on real-life climate actions led by organisations and initiatives established by and/or working with people in minoritised ethnic communities across Scotland.
The game is free to play on any web browser on PC/Mac, designed to be accessible to all, including non-gamers.
SEvEN was praised by the Scottish Cabinet Minister for Transport, Just Transition and Net Zero and Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees for its success in amplifying marginalised voices. It also received a nomination for the Scottish Games Awards 2023, a prestigious industry award in the Scottish games sector. SEvEN was nominated for the "Spirit of Scotland" category, recognising accomplishments in games that feature Scottish culture, heritage, language, characters, and landscape.
It has had >1700 visitor counts since its soft launch in May 2023, and 400 visitors played the game within the first day. SEvEN has also been used for community engagement in the third sector.
