Global Challenges and Data-Driven Science

The International CODATA 2017 Conference, “Global Challenges and Data-Driven Science” will explore the fundamental issues relating to the availability, (re-)use and scientific analysis of data that relate to the most significant contemporary global challenges.

Global science is increasingly data-driven. Major international scientific programmes contribute to a collective endeavour to understand contemporary global processes and phenomena that are of deep relevance to contemporary societies. The unprecedented volume of data generated by the digital revolution of recent decades has led to the emergence of distinctive and powerful means of characterising and understanding the complex systems that are at the heart of many global challenges. These developments raise major questions around data collection, stewardship and analysis; and there are timely lessons to be shared between the academic and commercial sectors.

This major scientific conference aims to explore the intersection between data-driven technological and scientific approaches and specific global challenges. It will explore the nexus between:

1. Approaches that permit vast quantities of data to be created, stored, recombined and analysed, with the capacity to integrate data from disparate domains to reveal unanticipated relationships, and with the use of powerful learning algorithms to establish deep relationships in complex systems.

2. And their application to major global challenges including disaster risk, smart cities and urban development and global environmental change.

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The conference is co-organised by ICSU-CODATA, the Committee on Data of the International Council of Science and the Geophysical Center of RAS (GC RAS) and is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.