Strengthening Conflict Research with Satellite Data
An international research team publishing in Nature shows how satellite data can be combined with text-based data to provide a more complete picture of armed conflict. Three DSI members contributed to the study: Valerie Sticher, Karsten Donnay, and Jan Dirk Wegner.
Wars cause not only casualties but also widespread destruction and displacement. Conflict research has so far relied mainly on text-based data drawn from media reports, resulting in systematic gaps. Valerie Sticher, senior researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich (UZH) and a member of the DSI, together with Karsten Donnay, DSI Professor of Digital Democracy, and Jan Dirk Wegner, DSI Professor and member of the DSI Board of Directors, along with researchers from ETH Zurich, EPFL, and international partners, show how satellite data can help close these gaps.
Using examples from Ukraine and Myanmar, the team demonstrates the value of combining both data sources: in Ukraine, only this combination reveals that areas captured by Russian forces suffered significantly more building damage than areas recaptured by Ukrainian forces. In Myanmar, satellite data show that the destruction of Rohingya homes continued long after the massacres ended.
The approach could help organizations such as the UN or the ICRC better assess the consequences of armed conflict and target humanitarian aid more effectively.
Read the full article in UZH News: Link