Un-forecasted record turnout for forecasting webinar
GAD has shared insights around the use of data science to model drought in sub-Saharan Africa at a cross-government modelling and forecasting network event.
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More than 440 people attended a recent seminar hosted by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) about using data science to model drought.
The Cross-Government Modelling and Forecasting Network consists of more than 20 government departments and arms’ length bodies.
In the seminar on ‘Using data science to model drought in Sub-Saharan Africa’, actuaries Georgi Bedenham and Eva Gibson talked about:
- disaster risk financing
- how we used data science techniques to support the estimation of poverty and nutritional impacts of droughts
- GAD’s data science and climate modelling capabilities
Poverty and nutrition impact
Actuary Georgi Bedenham said: “The seminar covered the data science techniques and modelling approaches we used and how our model could be used to simulate drought indicators based on historical data.
“We talked about the interesting challenges we had to overcome in accurately capturing the behaviour of the data and ensuring the model is sufficiently robust for future analysis.”
Credit: Ninno JackJr on Unsplash
Attendees learned about recent examples of how GAD is applying data science techniques to novel projects across government as well as how we are using our expertise and knowledge to undertake climate change risk and scenario analysis for government entities.
Successful seminar
The session was well attended by modelling and analysis experts from government organisations who belong to the cross-government Modelling and Forecasting Network.
Network Lead, James Redfern, said: “In the 2 years we’ve been hosting these seminars, it was our highest-ever attended seminar at 441 people, so there was a lot of interest!”