World Migration & Displacement Symposium

In 2021, USA for UNHCR co-organized a virtual global event with USA for IOM and the Harvard Data Science Review to contribute to a conversation on disinformation, vulnerable populations and COVID-19. In her opening remarks at the event, USA for UNHCR’s Executive Director and CEO, Anne-Marie Grey, said “This conference recognizes the magnitude of these challenges by bringing experts from across industry, NGOs and academia together to discuss the most pressing challenges. New challenges in the refugee crisis require a novel and innovative response.”

Collaboration between the Hive – USA for UNHCR’s innovation lab – and academia, humanitarian actors and key voices in the data science community strengthened our mandate to combat the negative rhetoric around human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic. As an outcome of the symposium, the open access journal, Harvard Data Science Review published an article by the Hive to outline challenges, opportunities and data innovation for refugees.