5th ISCRAM Summer School on Humanitarian Information Management

Tilburg, August 15-24 2012 Application Deadline: April 2, 2012

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Objective
The objective of the ISCRAM Summer School on Humanitarian Information Management is to provide participants with an intense interactive learning experience on the use of information management in humanitarian crisis response. Lectures will introduce students to aspects of crisismapping, crowdsourcing, and the design, use and evaluation of information systems in humanitarian crisis response. The program of the Summer School consists of a week of in-depth lectures, case workshops, dinner talks, as well as a great social program. All lectures are taught by experienced international experts in the areas of humanitarian information management, humanitarian action, disaster response, and information systems. The participants work in small groups and interact with the lecturers throughout the Summer School. The language of the Summer School is English. Since its inception, more than 100 students from over 20 different countries and 40 lecturers from international universities and organisations have participated in the Summer School. Previous editions of the ISCRAM Summer School were rated very highly by the participants. Lecture presentations, videos, pictures and comments from previous years can be found on http://www.iscramlive.org

Organizers and Foundational Partners

The 2012 ISCRAM Summer School is an initiative of the ISCRAM Association, an international non-profit organization, formally established in Belgium in 2009, which aims to: Promote research and development, exchange of knowledge and deployment of information systems for crisis management. Both the social, technical and practical aspects of all information- and communication systems used or to be used in all phases of management (mitigating) of emergencies, disasters and crises are treated. Promote and facilitate cooperation between all parties involved in this domain, including researchers, practitioners and professionals, technical experts and other experts, policy makers, involved in the management or evaluation of emergency conditions, disasters and crises. For this 5th edition of the Summer School, the ISCRAM Association has partnered with selected international organisations to further develop the international reach and impact of the summer school. The international partners of the ISCRAM Summer School are UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the European Joint Research Center in Ispra (Italy), the Institute of Disaster Prevention in Beijing (China), the ICT4Peace Foundation, and the Belgian First Aid and Support Team B-FAST.

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The 2012 ISCRAM Summer School Program Directors are Dr. Paulo Goncalves (University of Lugano, Switzerland) and Dr. Bartel Van de Walle (Tilburg University, the Netherlands).

Dr. Paulo Goncalves

Dr. Bartel Van de Walle

The 2012 edition of the Summer School is hosted by Tilburg University on its campus in Tilburg.

Summer School Program

This years theme: The role of social media in response and relief
At the Summer School, we will discuss the role of social media in humanitarian crisis response and relief. Social Media experts from academia and practice will provide their experiences and views, looking back at recent humanitarian crises and reflecting on future use and impact. Social media are often identified with the communication tools that enable global social interaction: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and many others. Through the use of these social media tools, especially over mobiles, individuals, regardless of organisational membership, location, or authority, can make information more easily accessible, hence allowing for unprecedented collaboration on a global scale. The apparent power of social media in recent humanitarian crises to mobilize people and create change has attracted worldwide attention, if not admiration. This phenomenal impact attributed to social media however also increasingly meets criticism: was the role of social media really that critical, and if so, in what specific cases? Were social media really useful to, and used by, those who make humanitarian response decisions - and if so: do we have documented cases that can be used for better understanding why?
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Clearly, a more elaborate analysis is critical in understanding the trans-formative effects of social media and the manner in which the humanitarian response community should, or could, adapt. Calling for increased use, or the investment in and the development of policy and guidelines for social media use in humanitarian response, only makes sense if we better understand what social media are and how they contribute to a more effective and efficient response.

Lecturers at the Summer School

Lecturers at the summer school represent a diverse range of expertise from academia, research organisations, governments, and NGOs. In 2011, students enjoyed lectures from Chris Ansell (Berkeley University), Ioannis Dokas (Cork University), Tom de Groeve and Beate Stolberg (JRC Ispra), Naomi Morris (MapAction), Andrew Alspach (UN OCHA), Sanjana Hattotuwa (TED Fellow, ICT4Peace Foundation), Paulo Goncalves (University of Lugano), Jaap van de Herik (Tilburg University, the Netherlands), and Geert Gijs (B-Fast, Belgium). All biographies, lecture topics and other updates from the last edition are currently available on the summer school website.

Who should attend?

The target audience for the Summer School is both PhD students and experienced Practitioners to attend the 2012 ISCRAM Summer School. Students in PhD programs in Information Systems, Computer Science, Organization Research, Management Science or in other fields with research interests related to (humanitarian) crisis management are eligible for nomination. Practitioners and full-time professionals active in the humanitarian sector. The Summer School is particularly interested in humanitarian practitioners with significant field experience looking for possible ways to improve their day-to-day practices through the use of frameworks that formalize and extend the practical competence they already possess. All participants will gain insights from information management and systems for humanitarian crisis response with excellent opportunities to discuss their work with other researchers and practitioners. Ample opportunity will be provided for social activities during the Summer School. The Summer School is intended to be an intellectually and socially stimulating environment, and expected to result in active networking long after the summer school is over.

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Benefits from attending

Participants will gain insights in the design, use and impact of social media in humanitarian crisis response and relief. All participants will be stimulated to interact and discuss their work with the lecturers, as well as among themselves. Interactions between PhD students and practitioners will be explicitly encouraged. Participants also have a unique opportunity to meet and network with current and future leaders of the humanitarian information management community. At the Summer School, participants are expected to work in groups whose tasks include: to analyse and discuss relevant humanitarian crisis situations; to study the role of social media, information management and information systems in crisis situations; to actively participate in simulation exercise, gaming and role playing; to hands on use and critically analyze dedicated crisis management software.

Some testimonials from past participants: The ISCRAM summer school was one of the most encouraging thing that happened during my doctoral studies. I got to meet people with the same interest in crisis management, either techies or people oriented, but all sharing this same passion. Gathering students, academics and professionals from everywhere, all driven "to make a difference", no wonder the atmosphere was just "AAA" and the exchanges were outstanding. I know it's sometimes hard to organize the time and money for a summer school during your PhD, but my advice is...fight for it, it's worth it! If you study humanitarian issues from a purely academic point of view, the Summer School is a great opportunity to expand your outlook and get a sense of how the actual humanitarian practice looks/feels like. This thanks to the highly experienced practitioners invited to the Summer School to give talks and also to some practitioners that enroll to the Summer School... Dont worry, youll also find academicians there :P If you are into crisis management and open for new ideas, other perspectives and curious what others do, you definitely should join the summer school. The talks are one aspect but more important is your story. And all the other stories from other participants. What are they doing? And why? What problems do you have, whether in academia or in the field. Just by bringing all the interested people together will start so many discussions and will give new insights, new solutions, etc., which you will never experience by staying where you are. For almost ten days you will be trapped by/in this group. It forces you to think in a different way. But at the end of every day a fantastic dinner and Belgium/Dutch beer waits
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How to apply
Applications are invited by Monday morning April 2, 2012 according to the instructions described below. Admission will be limited to a maximum of 30 participants.

Requirements:
PhD students should have completed course work and developed a dissertation proposal. Ideally, they should have completed one year of dissertation work with at least one year remaining (at the time of the summer school) before completion. Humanitarian practitioners should have at least one year work experience in humanitarian response and should possess a university degree. Applications based on significant professional experience will be considered.

Important Dates:
April 2 2012: Application deadline April 16 2012: Notification of nomination acceptance/rejection May 1 2012: Registration deadline August 15-24 2012: 2012 Summer School

Instructions for application:

Please send to the Summer School Program Committee (email address: summerschool@iscram.org) the following three documents before Monday April 2, 2012: 1. A one page document in which you should summarize your research or work experience, as well as why you are interested in the theme of the Summer School and indicate the relevance of the theme to your research or work, 2. A Curriculum Vitae, 3. A formal nomination letter: PhD students must be formally nominated by the chair of the student's department, or
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any other faculty member who is familiar with the student's research (e.g. PhD program director or thesis advisor). Practitioners must be nominated by their organisation. A letter of nomination (with your institutions or employers official letterhead) should include the following: The title of your PhD dissertation or current position in your organisation;; Information on the nominating faculty member or superior: name, address, department/institution, email address, phone and fax numbers. All applicants will be evaluated by the Program Director and applicants will be informed of acceptance by Monday April 16 2012. Upon acceptance of your application, you will be asked to complete your registration by May 1st, 2012. Only upon successfully completing your registration in time will you be admitted to the Summer School.

Location
The Summer School is organized on the campus of Tilburg University. With a population of nearly 200,000 inhabitants, Tilburg is the Netherlands' sixth largest city and is located in the South of the country, close to the Belgian border, in the Province of North Brabant. Tilburg University is nicely situated in a forested area on the outskirts of the city. Tilburg University is a relatively small and internationally oriented university with around 12,000 students in total and 750 international students from 65 countries. The university is internationally renowned for its research, especially in economics through the international research center for Economic Research CentER.

Tilburg University campus

Tilburg in the Netherlands

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Schedule, costs and accommodation

All participants are expected to attend the entire duration of the Summer School, although per day registrations are allowed for local practitioners. A Certificate of Attendance will be delivered at the end of the Summer School. The cost of participation for the 2012 Summer School is 600 EURO (750 EURO after the registration deadline) for the full program, or 100 EURO per day for per day registrations. This registration fee will cover all lunches, dinners and coffee breaks and materials provided for the lectures or cases. Wireless Internet access will be provided for the duration of the summer school for free. Please note that travel expenses are not covered by the registration fee, and neither are accommodation costs. A special hotel rate has been negotiated with Hotel De Postelse Hoeve in Tilburg, which is the dedicated hotel for the Summer School. The rate per night in a standard single room is 83 Euro and for a double room 105 Euro, breakfast included. Rooms have to be paid upon checkout.

Local Organizing Committee

The local organizing committee for the 2012 ISCRAM Summer School consists of Jan Otten, Janneke Liebregts - van Maarle, Ron de Milde and Paul Pattynama. Please contact the Organizing Committee via email at summerschool@iscram.org.

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Jan Otten (Chair)

Janneke Liebregts - van Maarle

Paul Pattynama

Ron de Milde

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