Speakers Bio & Abstract

BiographyKrystal Wilson is a Project Manager at Secure World Foundation where she heads the Human and Environmental Security portfolio.
Prior to joining SWF, Ms. Wilson was a satellite policy consultant at Access Partnership and a project manager at the Tauri Group, providing research, analysis, strategic planning, and regulatory assessment to government and commercial clients.
Previously, Ms. Wilson was in the field of international development as a Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at Development Alternatives, Inc in Afghanistan working on US military and local government initiatives and as Senior Program Assistant at the National Democratic Institute in Africa and Washington, DC working on sustainable governance projects. In those roles, she worked closely with the United Nations, the World Bank, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, US and international nonprofits, and others. Abstract A View from the Ground - A Former International Development Worker's Thoughts on Using Geospatial Data Commonly cited case studies on using remote sensing data in support of international development projects examine disaster prediction, disaster management, and climate change activities but often fail to examine the wider range of opportunities within this broad field, often achieved through public private partnerships.
This presentation will focus, not on efforts to address short-term crises but on development projects that seek to support long-term improvements in quality of life for groups and individuals around the world. It will provide an overview of the international development sector and how remote sensing technologies can play a role as well as showcase several innovative public-private partnership case studies using remote sensing data in development projects. It will also speak to key technical and systematic challenges to increasing the use of remote sensing data and, where possible, identify ways those challenges might be reduced.