Big Data for Migration Alliance

Accelerating the responsible and ethical use of non-traditional data sources and methods to support migration policy on the global, national, and local levels

Digital Self-determination Studios | May-June 2022

Digital Self-Determination as a Tool for Migrant Empowerment

What We Do

What We Do

The BD4M seeks to accelerate the responsible and ethical use of new data sources and innovative methodologies to inform migration policies and programmes. It does so through:

Guidance Providing guidance and capacity-building support on ethical and responsible data innovation

Cross-sectoral collaboration Facilitating engagement with holders of non-traditional data, particularly in the private sector

Research and advocacy Conducting and disseminating research and analysis on priority policy issues on migration

Who we are

From the Blog

  • New Publication

    Anticipating Migration for Policymaking: Insights from Forecasting, Foresight, and Forward-Looking Methods

    This piece by Stefaan Verhulst, Damien Jusselme, Matteo Fontana, Martina Belmonte, and Anna Rosinska was originally...

    By Stefaan Verhulst, Damien...
  • IOM-UN MIGRATION

    The Future of Human Mobility: Predicting Labor Migration and Mixed Migration

    Reflections from the BD4M’s workshop on leveraging data and anticipatory methods to foresee and react to migration trends and policymaking

    The challenges associated with relatively large and rapidly shifting cross-border migration have created a growing demand for improved...

    By Uma Kalkar
  • DATA MIGRATION PUBLICATION

    IOM and Partners launch Handbook on Data Innovation and Foresight for Migration Policy

    A new report by IOM-GMDAC

    This article was originally published by the IOM here. Brussels, Belgium – Climate change, health risks, and rapidly-evolving...

    By BD4M
  • IOM-UN MIGRATION

    Innovation for Labor Migration Data: A BD4M Conference with Egyptian Public Officials and Private Stakeholders

    Last month, the Big Data for Migration (BD4M), a joint initiative of GMDAC, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC), and...

    By BD4M
  • IOM-UN MIGRATION

    Innovative Data for Labour Migration Policy

    IOM and the Big Data for Migration Alliance (BD4M) Hold Workshop on Exploring the Use of Innovative Data for Labour Migration...

    By BD4M
  • Data Migration Publication

    Ethical Considerations in Re-Using Private Sector Data for Migration-Related Policy: A Practitioners’ Perspective

    A new paper by IOM-GMDAC

    The past decade has witnessed the rapid growth of non-traditional data (social media, mobile phones, satellite data, bank records, etc.) and...

    By Marzia Rango, Niklas Sievers,...
  • Data and Migration Guest Blog

    Data and displacement: Ethical and practical issues in data-driven humanitarian assistance for IDPs

    A guest blog by Professor Vicki Squire

    Ten years since the so-called “data revolution” (Pearn et al, 2022), the rise of “innovation” and the proliferation...

    By Vicki Squire
  • DATA INNOVATION EVENT GUEST...

    Unlocking the potential of innovative data sources, tools, and methods in Africa: Current trends and prospects for better information in migration-related policymaking

    Introduction: Pioneering migration data innovation initiatives in the African context In the information age, more data are produced than...

    By Niklas Sievers, Alina Menocal...
  • DIGITAL SELF-DETERMINATION...

    How Can We Ensure the Digital Self-Determination of Migrants?

    Highlights from the Second Studio on Digital Self Determination and Migration

    By Hannah Chafetz, Uma Kalkar, Marine Ragnet, Stefaan Verhulst and Andrew J. Zahuranec In 2020, prior to the crisis in Ukraine, the United...

    By BD4M
  • Digital Self-Determination...

    Digital Self-Determination as a Tool for Migrant Empowerment

    Takeaways from the First Studio on Digital Self Determination and Migration

    In 2020, there were an estimated 281 million migrants, accounting for 3.6% of the global population. Migrants move for a variety of...

    By Stefaan Verhulst, Marine...
  • BD4M In the News

    Migration: How Can Data Help Migrants?

    Delving into efforts to establish data collaboratives, Andrew Young, The GovLab’s Knowledge Director, contributed a blog post to OECD’s Development Matters.

    In recent years, stakeholders have pursued data innovations to enhance the ways in which decisions are made on migration. Delving into...

    By Yuki Mitsuda
  • Data Innovation Event Guest...

    Strengthening CRVS Systems to Improve Migration Policy: A Promising Innovation

    Migration is one of the most pressing issues of our time and innovation for migration policy can take on several different shapes to help...

    By Tawheeda Wahabzada, Deirdre...
  • Data Innovation Event Guest...

    Sea level rise and migration flows in Africa: what we can learn from a recent study on Bangladesh

    Pietro De Lellis (Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples,...

    By , Pietro De Lellis, ...
  • Special Collection

    BD4M, in partnership with Data & Policy, Launches Data and Migration Policy Special Collection

    In close collaboration with the Big Data for Migration Alliance  Data & Policy, an open access journal by Cambridge University...

    By BD4M
  • BD4M Studio Report

    Designing Data Collaboratives to Better Understand Human Mobility and Migration in West Africa

    READ THE REPORT  Today, the Big Data for Migration Alliance (BD4M) is releasing the report, “Designing Data Collaboratives to...

    By BD4M
  • IOM-UN Migration

    Using Big Data to Understand Migration (Part 1)

    Ingmar Weber, Research Director at Qatar Computing Research Institute, shares his views on the use of big data to understand migration. This...

    By BD4M Team
  • IOM-UN Migration

    Using Big Data to Understand Migration (Part 2)

    Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of The Governance Lab, shares his views on the use of big data to...

    By BD4M Team
  • IOM-UN Migration

    Using Big Data to Understand Migration (Part 3)

    Alessandro Sorichetta, principal Research Fellow at the WorldPop Programme, shares his views on the use of big data to understand migration....

    By BD4M Team
  • IOM - UN Migration

    Using “Big Data” to forecast migration

    A tale of high expectations, promising results and a long road ahead

    Reposted from the IOM - UN Migration Medium Publication Act 1 — High Expectations “Data is the new oil,” they say....

    By Jasper Tjaden, Andres Arau, ...
  • BD4M In the News

    Data innovation for migration: why now and how?

    Now more than ever we need to invest in responsible data innovation for the analysis of mobility and migration

    By Marzia Rango, Data Innovation and Capacity-Building Coordinator at the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), IOM – UN...

    By Marzia Rango, Michele Vespe ...
  • STATAFRIC and IOM GMDAC...

    Migration data in times of COVID-19: Trends and policy implications in Africa

    The African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC) and IOM's Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) organized a webinar on...

    By BD4M Team
  • BD4M Webinar Series

    Estimating Migrant Stocks and Flows Using Social Media Data

    The first Big Data for Migration (BD4M) webinar titled "Estimating migrant stocks and flows using social media data" took place on 3...

    By BD4M Team
  • Immigration & emigration...

    The Data Innovation Directory: Unlocking the potential of big data for migration policy

    Reposted from Migration Data Portal Whether we love it or loathe it, technology affects almost every aspect of our lives and it is likely to...

    By Niklas Sievers, Emma Borgnäs,...
  • Immigration & emigration...

    Are migrants left behind? How COVID-19 hinders better migration data

    Reposted from Migration Data Portal Migrants worldwide play an important role in sectors vital to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic but are...

    By Julia Black, Niklas Sievers ...
  • Initiatives

  • BD4M Studio Report

    Designing Data Collaboratives to Better Understand Human Mobility and Migration in West Africa

    The first BD4M Studio convened over 40 stakeholders in government, international organizations, research, civil society, and the public...

    By BD4M Team
  • The 100 Questions

    The 100 Questions Migration Data Agenda

    To make sense of the disparate issues related to a domain such as migration, The GovLab’s 100 Questions methodology (detailed in full in...

    By BD4M Team
  • BD4M

    The Big Data for Migration Alliance Joint Concept Note

    In November 2017, the European Commission’s Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (KCMD) and IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis...

    By BD4M Team
  • PLOS ONE Peer - Reviewed...

    Monitoring of the Venezuelan exodus through Facebook’s advertising platform

    Abstract: "Venezuela is going through the worst economical, political and social crisis in its modern history. Basic products like food or...

    By Joao Palotti, Natalia Adler, ...
  • BD4M

    Big Data and alternative sources on migration: From case-studies to policy support

    Over the past few years, migration has risen as one of the most challenging issues confronting policymakers around the world. This has been...

    By Marzia Rango, Michele Vespe ...
  • Migration Policy Practice

    Can Big Data help us achieve a "migration data revolution"?

    "Big Data" is generated every time we send a text message, make a mobile phone call, run an Internet search, transfer money online or...

    By Marzia Rango
  • Big Data and Migration

    Data Bulletin: Informing a Global Compact for Migration

    What is the potential of new data sources, such as mobile phones, social media and satellite imagery, to improve understanding of...

    By BD4M Team
  • IOM Migration Data Strategy

    Informing Policy and Action on Migration, Mobility and Displacement 2020 | 2025

    IOM has developed a comprehensive strategy – the Migration Data Strategy – to frame, focus and further amplify its existing robust...

    By BD4M Team
  • PLOS ONE Peer-Reviewed...

    Quantifying international human mobility patterns using Facebook Network data

    Quantifying global international mobility patterns can improve migration governance. Despite decades of calls by the international community...

    By Spyridon Spyratos, Marzia...
  • EPJ Data Science Journal...

    Dissecting global air traffic data to discern different types and trends of transnational human mobility

    Human mobility across national borders is a key phenomenon of our time. At the global scale, however, we still know relatively little about...

    By Lorenzo Gabrielli, Emanuel...
  • JRC Science for Policy Report

    Towards an EU Policy on Migration Data

    Improvements to the EU migration data landscape

    Adequate data is key for evidence-informed policymaking. This report describes the initiative coordinated by the KCMD that has brought...

    By Michele Vespe, Carlos...
  • Safety Science Journal Article

    Estimating and projecting air passenger traffic during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and its socio-economic impact

    Due to the coronavirus global crisis, most countries have put in place restrictive measures in order to confine the pandemia and contain the...

    By Michele Vespe, Spyridon...
  • Safety Science Journal Article

    Measuring the impact of COVID-19 confinement measures on human mobility using mobile positioning data. A European regional analysis

    This work presents a mobility indicator derived from fully anonymised and aggregated mobile positioning data. Even though the indicator does...

    By Michele Vespe, Spyridon...
  • Nonlinear Dynamics Journal...

    Human mobility and COVID-19 initial dynamics

    Countries in Europe took different mobility containment measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. The European Commission asked mobile...

    By Michele Vespe, Spyridon...
  • JRC Technical Report

    Mapping Mobility Functional Areas (MFA) by using Mobile Positioning Data to Inform COVID-19 Policies

    A European Regional Analysis

    This work introduces the concept of data-driven Mobility Functional Areas (MFAs) as geographic zones with high degree of intra-mobility...

    By Michele Vespe, Spyridon...
  • Migration Data Portal

    Data Innovation Directory

    By BD4M Team
    Big Data for Migration
  • Migration Data Portal:...

    Big data, migration and human mobility

    By BD4M Team
    Big Data for Migration
  • The 100 Questions

    Migration

    Mapping the most pressing, high-impact migrationquestions that could be answered if relevant datasets were leveraged in a responsible...

    By BD4M Team
    Big Data for Migration
  • Knowledge Centre on Migration...

    Dynamic Data Hub

    The Dynamic Data Hub gives direct access to single datasets to visualise migration and demography data and trends.

    By BD4M Team
    Big Data for Migration
  • Migration Data Portal

    The Portal aims to serve as a unique access point to timely, comprehensive migration statistics and reliable information about migration data globally.

    The Portal aims to serve as a unique access point to timely, comprehensive migration statistics and reliable information about migration...

    By BD4M Team
    Big Data for Migration
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