Project by UAB and CSIC researchers awarded the BBVA Foundation's 2023 SEIO Awards
A study conducted by researchers from the UAB and the CVC, and co-led with scientists from the IAE-CSIC, was awarded this year's BBVA Foundation's Statistical Society and Operative Research Award (Premio SEIO-Fundación BBVA 2023), in recognition of the best contribution in data science and big data.
The prize was awarded to researchers Andre Groeger, from the UAB Department of Economics and Economic History; Joan Serrat, from the UAB Department of Computer Science and Computer Vision Centre (CVC); Hannes Mueller, scientist at the Institute for Economic Analysis of the Spanish National Research Council (IAE-CSIC); and Jonathan Hersh and Andrea Matranga, both from Chapman University (USA).
The winning project, co-led by Andre Groeger and Hannes Mueller, is a method that applies machine learning to detect the demolition of buildings by artillery through the use of neural networks, making it possible to monitor the destruction during a war in near real time and improve humanitarian response.
Scientists applied this method to monitor destruction in six of Syria's major cities (Aleppo, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor, Hama, Homs and Raqqa), which have been plagued by conflict for more than a decade. The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2021.
The BBVA Foundation 2023 Society for Statistics and Operations Research Awards, awarded yearly, recognise originality, innovation and contribution to the fields of statistics and operations research with the dual aim of encouraging research work in this area and its projection to society.