Data and Displacement
This project is now complete, please see our new project at DLiD+: Data Literacies in Displacement and Humantiarian Settings.
Project Summary
Data and Displacement assessed the data-based humanitarian targeting of assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in two contexts that are characterised by conflict and high levels of displacement: northern Nigeria and South Sudan. It examined the production and use of large-scale data targeting processes in each case, focusing on the operational and ethical challenges that arise in the collection and use of such data.
The project employed mixed methods, combining a range of data analysis techniques with qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews. It emphasised the importance of involving local stakeholders in the assessment of data-driven processes of targeted assistance, in particular IDPs themselves. In so doing, the project aimed to explore issues such as barriers to participation in data collation processes for 鈥榓t-risk鈥� groups, the implications of data-based targeting on intersecting and spatial inequalities, and the impacts of large-scale data use for humanitarian principles such as 鈥榙o no harm鈥�.
This project was jointly funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (formerly UK Department for International Development 鈥� DFID), under the Collaborative Humanitarian Protection Programme.
Research Ouputs
Academic Articles
2026: 鈥楾hey do ask, but it is not the way you ask鈥�: data collection as communication for internally displaced persons in South Sudan Briony Jones and Kuyang Harriet Logo Mulukwat-Tassa
2025: You Already Know Enough: Certainty and Ignorance in Data-Driven Humanitarianism Vicki Squire and Briony Jones
2024: Engaging Data Literacies in Displacement Vicki Squire, 峄宭谩y铆nk谩 脌k脿nle, Briony Jones, Kuyang Logo, and Jo茫o Porto de Albuquerque
2023: Data gathering and utilization: humanitarian targeting and ethical issues in northeastern Nigeria Olufunke Faheyun et al.
2023: Coloniality and frictions: Data-driven humanitarianism in North-Eastern Nigeria and South Sudan Vicki Squire and Modesta Alozie
Policy Briefs and Reports
2022: Datafication of the Humanitarian Sector: Efficacy and Ethics Download here
2022: Data, Displacement, and Humanitarian Protection in Nigeria Download here
2022: Ethics and Efficacy of Data-Driven Humanitarian Assistance in South Sudan Download here
2022: Humanitarian Crises and Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria Download here
Full Report Published
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Contact
Principal Investigator
Lead Research Fellow
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